Make Dilithium donation to the fleet more rewarding than 1 Dil = 1 FC , instead make it 5 or something like that.
Dil sink already in the game will be made more enticing for the general populous to use, and the dil market will react accordingly because of it ...
Fleets will be happier, holdings will be built, players will have more fun ... maybee even more players coming back to the game and activity in the fleets....
Players: *ask for something via a poll made by the team or from observation made by various players*
Team: *ignores the results. Makes something completely different. When asked why they don't follow with or at least acknowledge what the players suggested/asked for: vague "the numbers say your opinions aren't correct, we listen to the silent majority"*
Players: *criticize the reasoning in a not "my sincere apologies for bothering your esteemed time, kind sir, but while you're entirely correct, I beg to respectfully differ if you'd forgive me for the impudence" way*
Team & Mods: Guys, keep it civil!
Bunch of toxic players every single entity on social media has no matter what and nobody asked them a goddamn thing : *does the usual toxic stuff, death treats et all*
Team: And this is why we feel like not talking to the whole community anymore.
Mods: The majority of civil replies isn't enough, this has gone too far. *thread closed*
Well this is a blindingly stupid idea. Why did anyone think this was a good idea to change existing systems and make them into dil taxes? I basically never use the tokens except when I have 1 admiralty slot left and the TOD is 2-3 assignments back in the queue. And for endeavors I skip the bugged tasks and do almost everything else. So this really won't affect me at all becasue once I run out of tokens I just won't bother buying them.
Admiralty is especially stupid because that is purely there to help you get dilithium either for fleets or personal use so wasting dil on skip tokens is never going to happen.
But I read these tweets, thanks nagus, so where in the world did they come up with these ridiculous numbers? Endeavors definitely do not give out that much dilithium, its usually none most days.
This is not the sink anyone wanted nor asked for. This won't be effective at all, and only serves to anger players with absurdly out of touch changes to systems the devs won't even improve. Why are ground heal/shield heal endeavors still there at ridiculous numbers? Why is space healing bugged sometimes? Why is the Romulan TOD so worthless?
I did give them criticism, they clearly didn't like what I told them, sure I may call the Devs out on their BS ,but I would never go as far as send them death threats, there are certain lines you don't cross, we all know this isn't a sink, just watch as they will blame the playerbase once they realize that barely anyone will use this, I'm not angry just disappointed, just do better next time.
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,670Community Moderator
Ok... guys... first off... how do you know the Devs are ignoring suggestions that are being offered? Just because it wasn't the absolute first thing that came out or it didn't come out the next day by magic?
The Dev Team is looking at MULTIPLE options, most likely including those being suggested by players. However the Devs are not required to give us play by play commentary on what is going on behind the scenes.
The situation is complicated, and its going to take more than just one single thing to solve it. There are still good suggestions coming out, and there are a few that either don't make sense at all or will do the exact opposite of the goal. You can't just say "do this" and it will magically fix all the problems. These things take study, discussion, and development time to impliment. Just like some of those harder to track down bugs, you gotta be patient. I mean think about it. Back in Season 7 with the switch to the Rep system, we had a bug for a YEAR that blocked some characters who earned accolades from their accolade tailor unlocks. They eventually fixed it, but it still took a long time.
And then we come to the communication situation. Bort outlined it pretty clearly that the highly hostile environment discourages them from directly communicating with the community because they'll get their heads bitten off over some decision or another that some extremely vocal people don't agree with. Would anyone want to go into a room and be attacked?
Community complains about lack of communication
Devs try to communicate
Community attacks
Devs retreat
Community complains about lack of communication
How do you expect humans to respond? Just sit there and take the abuse? It makes no sense! The toxic behavior drowns out the actual useful communication, which in turn adds fuel for the toxic behavior to continue, making things worse.
Put yourselves in their shoes. How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
Vitriol and Hate does NOT encourage a positive outcome. Its intimidation. Its "do it MY way or else". And the "or else" tends to be what draws the mods in to close threads. As we mods have said, its ok to express your opinions, however there are lines that should not be crossed. Threats against anyone, Dev or Forumite, is one of those red lines. And we are seeing a dramatic increase in that right now. How is that acceptable as constructive feedback in ANY circumstance?
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
Players: *ask for something via a poll made by the team or from observation made by various players*
Team: *ignores the results. Makes something completely different. When asked why they don't follow with or at least acknowledge what the players suggested/asked for: vague "the numbers say your opinions aren't correct, we listen to the silent majority"*
Players: *criticize the reasoning in a not "my sincere apologies for bothering your esteemed time, kind sir, but while you're entirely correct, I beg to respectfully differ if you'd forgive me for the impudence" way*
Team & Mods: Guys, keep it civil!
Bunch of toxic players every single entity on social media has no matter what and nobody asked them a goddamn thing : *does the usual toxic stuff, death treats et all*
Team: And this is why we feel like not talking to the whole community anymore.
Mods: The majority of civil replies isn't enough, this has gone too far. *thread closed*
Players: *ask for something via a poll made by the team or from observation made by various players*
Team: *ignores the results. Makes something completely different.
Actually, when the dilex first crashed and people started throwing out ideas one of the most common suggestions I saw was the ability to buy endeavor reroll tokens with dilithium. No one asked for the free ones to be removed, but the idea itself is something people DID ask for. This change is proof that they DO in fact listen to us.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Ok... guys... first off... how do you know the Devs are ignoring suggestions that are being offered? Just because it wasn't the absolute first thing that came out or it didn't come out the next day by magic?
The Dev Team is looking at MULTIPLE options, most likely including those being suggested by players. However the Devs are not required to give us play by play commentary on what is going on behind the scenes.
The situation is complicated, and its going to take more than just one single thing to solve it. There are still good suggestions coming out, and there are a few that either don't make sense at all or will do the exact opposite of the goal. You can't just say "do this" and it will magically fix all the problems. These things take study, discussion, and development time to impliment. Just like some of those harder to track down bugs, you gotta be patient. I mean think about it. Back in Season 7 with the switch to the Rep system, we had a bug for a YEAR that blocked some characters who earned accolades from their accolade tailor unlocks. They eventually fixed it, but it still took a long time.
And then we come to the communication situation. Bort outlined it pretty clearly that the highly hostile environment discourages them from directly communicating with the community because they'll get their heads bitten off over some decision or another that some extremely vocal people don't agree with. Would anyone want to go into a room and be attacked?
Community complains about lack of communication
Devs try to communicate
Community attacks
Devs retreat
Community complains about lack of communication
How do you expect humans to respond? Just sit there and take the abuse? It makes no sense! The toxic behavior drowns out the actual useful communication, which in turn adds fuel for the toxic behavior to continue, making things worse.
Put yourselves in their shoes. How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
Vitriol and Hate does NOT encourage a positive outcome. Its intimidation. Its "do it MY way or else". And the "or else" tends to be what draws the mods in to close threads. As we mods have said, its ok to express your opinions, however there are lines that should not be crossed. Threats against anyone, Dev or Forumite, is one of those red lines. And we are seeing a dramatic increase in that right now. How is that acceptable as constructive feedback in ANY circumstance?
Due respect, but I think you're missing the point of a lot of the feedback. It's not that we expect a solution "right now, our way"--or at least that's not how it is for me, and I've seen several others express more or less my views. Which is that this solution does not make any sense, if only because they simultaneously sabotaged it with yet another sale. Forget how the sink itself was implemented. The self-sabotage leads us to question what, exactly, they think they're accomplishing at all.
Ok... guys... first off... how do you know the Devs are ignoring suggestions that are being offered? Just because it wasn't the absolute first thing that came out or it didn't come out the next day by magic?
The Dev Team is looking at MULTIPLE options, most likely including those being suggested by players. However the Devs are not required to give us play by play commentary on what is going on behind the scenes.
The situation is complicated, and its going to take more than just one single thing to solve it. There are still good suggestions coming out, and there are a few that either don't make sense at all or will do the exact opposite of the goal. You can't just say "do this" and it will magically fix all the problems. These things take study, discussion, and development time to impliment. Just like some of those harder to track down bugs, you gotta be patient. I mean think about it. Back in Season 7 with the switch to the Rep system, we had a bug for a YEAR that blocked some characters who earned accolades from their accolade tailor unlocks. They eventually fixed it, but it still took a long time.
And then we come to the communication situation. Bort outlined it pretty clearly that the highly hostile environment discourages them from directly communicating with the community because they'll get their heads bitten off over some decision or another that some extremely vocal people don't agree with. Would anyone want to go into a room and be attacked?
Community complains about lack of communication
Devs try to communicate
Community attacks
Devs retreat
Community complains about lack of communication
How do you expect humans to respond? Just sit there and take the abuse? It makes no sense! The toxic behavior drowns out the actual useful communication, which in turn adds fuel for the toxic behavior to continue, making things worse.
Put yourselves in their shoes. How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
Vitriol and Hate does NOT encourage a positive outcome. Its intimidation. Its "do it MY way or else". And the "or else" tends to be what draws the mods in to close threads. As we mods have said, its ok to express your opinions, however there are lines that should not be crossed. Threats against anyone, Dev or Forumite, is one of those red lines. And we are seeing a dramatic increase in that right now. How is that acceptable as constructive feedback in ANY circumstance?
The solutions are straightforward. Make dilithium worth spending for all players. Ships, weapons, traits, consoles, etc. in the dil store. That doesn't take time to research. It does take time to make.
Changing existing systems to require dil where previously they were just inherent parts of the system is absurd and based on what I've seen has only resulted in exceedingly predictable backlash and refusal to use the implemented sink. This latest change doesn't give us anything for the dilithium, it takes away things we already had and now need dil to get it back. Resentment was an obvious outcome if they had done their research.
Making "threats" and personal attacks on the internet is crass, pointless, and utterly meaningless. It helps nothing, and no one should do it if they want to get their point across. However its also harmless.
Welcome to reality where people say a lot of things when they are mad, very little of which they actually mean. It is entirely on the devs to harden up, take a step back and realize for all the bluster and vitriol, the fact is people are mad, but they aren't actually dangerous and it doesn't generate any sympathy to act like there is any credibility to these "threats."
They are in a customer facing industry and need to face the customers, not run away as they have done for years. I appreciate not all of them are cut out for the public facing tasks, and that is why they need people who are. Are customers jerks? Yeah, sometimes, but you still have to interact with them when they are jerks.
I have said this from the start, this is a con which idiots are falling for. If you are rich you will not bother if you are poor you lose out big time.
If your new to this game would you bother staying if everything was pay to play? This is exactly where the game is going. Yes they do free events, however taking large amounts of cash in as people will end up spending cash because of the way the game is going now is not a good business idea, but hay most of use have been locked in our homes for a year and a half, what else are they going to do to boost their profit margins, Shame on them.
And then we come to the communication situation. Bort outlined it pretty clearly that the highly hostile environment discourages them from directly communicating with the community because they'll get their heads bitten off over some decision or another that some extremely vocal people don't agree with. Would anyone want to go into a room and be attacked?
Community complains about lack of communication
Devs try to communicate Community attacks
Devs retreat
Community complains about lack of communication
How do you expect humans to respond? Just sit there and take the abuse? It makes no sense! The toxic behavior drowns out the actual useful communication, which in turn adds fuel for the toxic behavior to continue, making things worse.
Put yourselves in their shoes. How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
Are you implying not only the vast majority of players interacting with the devs are toxic, but they're also so toxic any "useful" criticism is ignored because of that? Because that's what it reads like.
Also, since forums are apparently barely used anymore by the team and communication is more likely on social media, then to the question
How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
I'd suggest: use the block button and/or ignore the toxic individuals like every other company ever.
Making "threats" and personal attacks on the internet is crass, pointless, and utterly meaningless. It helps nothing, and no one should do it if they want to get their point across. However its also harmless.
Welcome to reality where people say a lot of things when they are mad, very little of which they actually mean. It is entirely on the devs to harden up, take a step back and realize for all the bluster and vitriol, the fact is people are mad, but they aren't actually dangerous and it doesn't generate any sympathy to act like there is any credibility to these "threats."
They are in a customer facing industry and need to face the customers, not run away as they have done for years. I appreciate not all of them are cut out for the public facing tasks, and that is why they need people who are. Are customers jerks? Yeah, sometimes, but you still have to interact with them when they are jerks.
No. Just no.
It is not harmless. It is in fact extremely harmful. Harmful to the mental health of the person being targetted, harmful to the atmosphere of the social environment in which it takes place, and harmful to the world at large.
Frankly the fact that anyone can sit there and call such things harmless shows a real lack of understanding of pretty much everything.
This thread is devolving, fast. I'm beggin' ya'll, take a deep breath and think about the things you're typing (both people criticizing and defending us) before you type. This decision has become a flash point for a lot of pent up frustrations for portions of the player base, and believe me, we get that. But coming on a forum to scream at each other helps no one. Deep breaths. Talk like adults.
This thread is devolving, fast. I'm beggin' ya'll, take a deep breath and think about the things you're typing (both people criticizing and defending us) before you type. This decision has become a flash point for a lot of pent up frustrations for portions of the player base, and believe me, we get that. But coming on a forum to scream at each other helps no one. Deep breaths. Talk like adults.
Again, not seeing a whole lot of devolving. I see genuine frustration, though. And, honestly, not sure this new 'Devs are the victims here of vile, vitriol-spewing players' direction is really sitting well with me. Sometimes, as a Dev, you gotta sit back, and realize maybe your idea wasn't the best idea ever, and the players DON'T love it. And maybe even realize the players actually have a point.
Saurializard nailed it, really: things went down exactly as she predicted; and even this thread is 2 steps away from getting closed because of 'toxic' players. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.
Are you implying not only the vast majority of players interacting with the devs are toxic, but they're also so toxic any "useful" criticism is ignored because of that? Because that's what it reads like.
No I'm not implying that. The problem is that there is a group that goes on the attack, and are QUITE vocal and visible, and that tends to end up painting the majority who do have legit criticizm with the same brush, especially when things get heated. Its not the majority of players, but it is hard to sort actual, useful posts from the flames surrounding them. The fact remains there is toxic behavior, but not everyone is taking part. And its not just one toxic post and moving on, its hammering it home every chance they get.
Using the typos as an example... its literally they see it, and go to war. And they need to beat on it to prove their point. And anyone who contradicts them either gets brushed aside or becomes an accessory target.
Think of it like this... you have a bunch of people in a room discussing how to solve a problem and an argument breaks out, with some people actually yelling and verbally attacking. What's gonna happen? More attention is drawn to the yelling. You can't hear anyone over the yelling. Right now we're facing the text forum version of that. We may have legit criticizm and constructive feedback... but its being drowned out by the flamethrowers. Who wants to try and read through a flamefest to get the actual, honest feedback? It blurs together. And it doesn't help matters when mods have to try and figure out what's going on either in an effort to keep the peace, sometimes manually without a report to follow up on.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
Are you implying not only the vast majority of players interacting with the devs are toxic, but they're also so toxic any "useful" criticism is ignored because of that? Because that's what it reads like.
Using the typos as an example... its literally they see it, and go to war. And they need to beat on it to prove their point. And anyone who contradicts them either gets brushed aside or becomes an accessory target.
With the typos some of us have lost real life money due to those typos and others typos have caused mass confusion among players. Yet it feels those of us with valid criticism on those style of typos like the people that lost real money are being lumped into the same group as the small number of toxic players. A few typos here and there is acceptable but the current typo situation it well past acceptable and causing problems that need looking at.
The problem is that there is a group that goes on the attack, and are QUITE vocal and visible, and that tends to end up painting the majority who do have legit criticizm with the same brush, especially when things get heated.
My apologies, but I'm gonna have to use that quote from the Good Place:
"OK. But that's worse. You do get how that's worse, right?"
The team knows there is only a minority, but yet it always somehow ends up "painting the majority with the same brush" in its eyes. While it's not immediate, it's still putting all players and the vocal, toxic majority who DM, give death treats, stalk, etc... in the same bag. And that's not supposed to happen. Especially not so repeatedly that some players can predict the outcome.
Its not the majority of players, but it is hard to sort actual, useful posts from the flames surrounding them.
But isn't that like the point of a moderator?
To moderate forums, identify and extinguish the flames before they engulf the whole thread, instead of torching the whole thing and hope the same people will behave in another one? Especially since it's apparently a vocal minority that is the problem and can be ignored when making in-game decisions.
Who wants to try and read through a flamefest to get the actual, honest feedback? It blurs together.
A mod, once again. That's the whole point of having them in a community.
That reminds me of the (incredibly bad) teaching method of "I don't know who started this and I don't care, you're all punished."
While I don't agree with the death threats given, the insults thrown, the badgering of the CM/devs, or the them vs us mentality that is taking place: I do feel that this needs to be a "wake up call" to both sides as to the level of dissatisfaction that has been growing from some time now. As I stated somewhere else: you can be polite as an angel and still be brushed aside. Too often: the ones that attempt to be nice about a situation are the ones who suffer the ill consequences. By the same token: when repeated politeness fails: angry and frustration to take its toll. That is true and unfortunate. Players and devs both need to remember we are all human. While I too have asked why certain things have been done and have either received no response at all or had the questions summarily dismissed: I refuse to resort to attacking anyone for that.
As far as the communication goes between devs and players: many players (including myself) often wonder what "player base" is the driving force for some of the decisions that have been made in the past. I think that what is being seen at this point is part of an issue that has been growing for a long time. Again, I don't agree the extremes that some have gone too; but, I unfortunately cannot say I am surprised at this point. Everything from the forums, to Twitter, to Facebook as the mentality that is you disagree with a decision that was made: you are some how wrong for how you feel. You voice your opinion on the forum: without name calling, without threat of violence, and you take your chances of being "crawled." You send in suggestions or make suggestions to the forum that aren't acknowledged. They when something like this takes place and things "explode" people are caught in the middle.
I would not want to be the community manager of this forum or STO. I would not want to be a dev for STO. I am just an avid fan of Star Trek and someone who enjoys playing STO. Do I keep my opinions to myself on how I feel about certain things in the game? Yes I do: as I am of the mentality that one player's opinion doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things.
There is no denying that questions asked about how or why things have been done has resulted in a backlash from those who "operate" STO that has been directed back at the player base. That is been seen on Twitter, YouTube, and other places. There have been times that questions have been asked with the response "I am not going to answer that." Yes, I know.... Sometimes things can't be answered or addressed as the spur of the moment; but, wording plays a BIG key in how something is viewed or received. I know sometimes you don't have the information to answer a question. I get that. That is fine. No one can remember everything at once. Having said that: something does need to change before we ALL lose Star Trek Online.
Yes, every MMO has its ups and downs. Yes, every thing software based has issues. Yes, everything can't always be perfect. Nevertheless, there comes a point where both sides (devs and players) need to be acknowledged with mutual understanding. There is no civil discourse between anyone anymore. In an article I read recently: software devs and gaming companies need to be careful of the fine lines between profit, player experiences, game development, and treating their player base as "cash cows." Many recent decisions have made many feel that those in charge of STO are less concerned about the player experience/enjoyment and more about pushing this next lockbox ship or making some change that costs real world dollars to take advantage of. I get it. Star Trek Online has bills and employees to pay. However, there needs to be a common ground found between both devs and players and it cannot be one sided as it has been here recently.
Do I have the answers on how to do this? Nope!!! I can't say that I do. However, Kael is right.... Everyone (devs and players both) need to take a deep breath, calm down, and try to work through this together. STO can't survive with the "us vs them" mentality. STO cannot take the stand of "take it or leave it" as that is not right as well. Players cannot continue to be threatening psychical harm or wishing "ill will" on a dev or someone at Star Trek Online. Yes, Star Trek fans are very passionate with Star Trek Online fans being equally so. However, passion for something is not a free pass to say whatever to someone without any thought of human kindness or respect. Good or bad decisions: players need to respect the devs and those in charge of STO. By the same token: devs and those in charge of STO need to respect the players as well. Right now: not much respect is given to either side and that is a bombshell in itself. My suggestion would be to focus on the current event going on, refrain from the "politics" of us vs them, and give devs and CM time to process and discuss how this was received. Those who never try never make a mistake and those who never make a mistake never learn. Ok... This latest change was not well received. Give those at STO time to figure what could have been done differently. We all need to be careful, be respectful, and try to be patient with each other (players, devs, and CM alike).
With the typos some of us have lost real life money due to those typos and others typos have caused mass confusion among players. Yet it feels those of us with valid criticism on those style of typos like the people that lost real money are being lumped into the same group as the small number of toxic players. A few typos here and there is acceptable but the current typo situation it well past acceptable and causing problems that need looking at.
But isn't that like the point of a moderator?
To moderate forums, identify and extinguish the flames before they engulf the whole thread, instead of torching the whole thing and hope the same people will behave in another one?
A mod's job gets harder when there's more and more chaos to try and get through, sometimes manually. And we're not paid to do this. We're volunteers.
A mod, once again. That's the whole point of having them in a community.
That reminds me of the (incredibly bad) teaching methods of "I don't know who started this and I don't care, you're all punished."
We got three mods total. Myself being the rookie still learning how far to go. Our job gets easier when people report problem posts. It allows us to zero in on things a lot quicker. The report button allows us to do precision strikes, versus the carpet bombing we sometimes have to do in threads when it just spirals out of control. We're only human as well, and in the case of the other two mods, have RL responsibilities. Our role as mods is made easier or harder by the community either working with us or against us.
There's a fine line we walk. We take flak quite a bit for actions we take as well. If we start redacting problematic posts from certain individuals more often than others in a thread, we get called out for "censorship" or mod abuse. We nuke a whole thread that can't be salvaged, we get called out for it. We had a whole thread over thread closure. It ain't easy. We try to do what we can, but even we can get overwhelmed because we're just as human as the next forumite. I'm personally feeling overwhelmed right now, and when I ask for help from the community on something like keeping the peace, I mean it. I want help because I'm only human. I can't just sit here and take flak and sort through flames all the time. I need breaks to get away from the drama, and I'd like to be able to zero in on the specific problems rather than have to read an entire thread and get overwhelmed. Without help from people reporting posts... its a lot to deal with. I've gotten praise as a mod because I try to be fair, understanding, and generally being a real person. But even I have my limits and I try to keep that from showing on the forums when I have to do the Mod thing.
Mods need all the help they can get, especially in times like this, to actually sort through the flames without snapping themselves.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
Comments
Dil sink already in the game will be made more enticing for the general populous to use, and the dil market will react accordingly because of it ...
Fleets will be happier, holdings will be built, players will have more fun ... maybee even more players coming back to the game and activity in the fleets....
Players: *ask for something via a poll made by the team or from observation made by various players*
Team: *ignores the results. Makes something completely different. When asked why they don't follow with or at least acknowledge what the players suggested/asked for: vague "the numbers say your opinions aren't correct, we listen to the silent majority"*
Players: *criticize the reasoning in a not "my sincere apologies for bothering your esteemed time, kind sir, but while you're entirely correct, I beg to respectfully differ if you'd forgive me for the impudence" way*
Team & Mods: Guys, keep it civil!
Bunch of toxic players every single entity on social media has no matter what and nobody asked them a goddamn thing : *does the usual toxic stuff, death treats et all*
Team: And this is why we feel like not talking to the whole community anymore.
Mods: The majority of civil replies isn't enough, this has gone too far. *thread closed*
Admiralty is especially stupid because that is purely there to help you get dilithium either for fleets or personal use so wasting dil on skip tokens is never going to happen.
But I read these tweets, thanks nagus, so where in the world did they come up with these ridiculous numbers? Endeavors definitely do not give out that much dilithium, its usually none most days.
This is not the sink anyone wanted nor asked for. This won't be effective at all, and only serves to anger players with absurdly out of touch changes to systems the devs won't even improve. Why are ground heal/shield heal endeavors still there at ridiculous numbers? Why is space healing bugged sometimes? Why is the Romulan TOD so worthless?
The Dev Team is looking at MULTIPLE options, most likely including those being suggested by players. However the Devs are not required to give us play by play commentary on what is going on behind the scenes.
The situation is complicated, and its going to take more than just one single thing to solve it. There are still good suggestions coming out, and there are a few that either don't make sense at all or will do the exact opposite of the goal. You can't just say "do this" and it will magically fix all the problems. These things take study, discussion, and development time to impliment. Just like some of those harder to track down bugs, you gotta be patient. I mean think about it. Back in Season 7 with the switch to the Rep system, we had a bug for a YEAR that blocked some characters who earned accolades from their accolade tailor unlocks. They eventually fixed it, but it still took a long time.
And then we come to the communication situation. Bort outlined it pretty clearly that the highly hostile environment discourages them from directly communicating with the community because they'll get their heads bitten off over some decision or another that some extremely vocal people don't agree with. Would anyone want to go into a room and be attacked?
How do you expect humans to respond? Just sit there and take the abuse? It makes no sense! The toxic behavior drowns out the actual useful communication, which in turn adds fuel for the toxic behavior to continue, making things worse.
Put yourselves in their shoes. How would YOU react to all that venom and rage aimed at YOU? Would you welcome it, just take it, or would you pull back?
Vitriol and Hate does NOT encourage a positive outcome. Its intimidation. Its "do it MY way or else". And the "or else" tends to be what draws the mods in to close threads. As we mods have said, its ok to express your opinions, however there are lines that should not be crossed. Threats against anyone, Dev or Forumite, is one of those red lines. And we are seeing a dramatic increase in that right now. How is that acceptable as constructive feedback in ANY circumstance?
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
You pegged them. You pegged them good.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Due respect, but I think you're missing the point of a lot of the feedback. It's not that we expect a solution "right now, our way"--or at least that's not how it is for me, and I've seen several others express more or less my views. Which is that this solution does not make any sense, if only because they simultaneously sabotaged it with yet another sale. Forget how the sink itself was implemented. The self-sabotage leads us to question what, exactly, they think they're accomplishing at all.
The solutions are straightforward. Make dilithium worth spending for all players. Ships, weapons, traits, consoles, etc. in the dil store. That doesn't take time to research. It does take time to make.
Changing existing systems to require dil where previously they were just inherent parts of the system is absurd and based on what I've seen has only resulted in exceedingly predictable backlash and refusal to use the implemented sink. This latest change doesn't give us anything for the dilithium, it takes away things we already had and now need dil to get it back. Resentment was an obvious outcome if they had done their research.
Making "threats" and personal attacks on the internet is crass, pointless, and utterly meaningless. It helps nothing, and no one should do it if they want to get their point across. However its also harmless.
Welcome to reality where people say a lot of things when they are mad, very little of which they actually mean. It is entirely on the devs to harden up, take a step back and realize for all the bluster and vitriol, the fact is people are mad, but they aren't actually dangerous and it doesn't generate any sympathy to act like there is any credibility to these "threats."
They are in a customer facing industry and need to face the customers, not run away as they have done for years. I appreciate not all of them are cut out for the public facing tasks, and that is why they need people who are. Are customers jerks? Yeah, sometimes, but you still have to interact with them when they are jerks.
If your new to this game would you bother staying if everything was pay to play? This is exactly where the game is going. Yes they do free events, however taking large amounts of cash in as people will end up spending cash because of the way the game is going now is not a good business idea, but hay most of use have been locked in our homes for a year and a half, what else are they going to do to boost their profit margins, Shame on them.
Also, since forums are apparently barely used anymore by the team and communication is more likely on social media, then to the question I'd suggest: use the block button and/or ignore the toxic individuals like every other company ever.
No. Just no.
It is not harmless. It is in fact extremely harmful. Harmful to the mental health of the person being targetted, harmful to the atmosphere of the social environment in which it takes place, and harmful to the world at large.
Frankly the fact that anyone can sit there and call such things harmless shows a real lack of understanding of pretty much everything.
-K
This thread is devolving, fast. I'm beggin' ya'll, take a deep breath and think about the things you're typing (both people criticizing and defending us) before you type. This decision has become a flash point for a lot of pent up frustrations for portions of the player base, and believe me, we get that. But coming on a forum to scream at each other helps no one. Deep breaths. Talk like adults.
Again, not seeing a whole lot of devolving. I see genuine frustration, though. And, honestly, not sure this new 'Devs are the victims here of vile, vitriol-spewing players' direction is really sitting well with me. Sometimes, as a Dev, you gotta sit back, and realize maybe your idea wasn't the best idea ever, and the players DON'T love it. And maybe even realize the players actually have a point.
Saurializard nailed it, really: things went down exactly as she predicted; and even this thread is 2 steps away from getting closed because of 'toxic' players. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.
The irony.
Compares a player suggesting Devs selectively shut out ppl to Devs shutting out all players altogether.
No I'm not implying that. The problem is that there is a group that goes on the attack, and are QUITE vocal and visible, and that tends to end up painting the majority who do have legit criticizm with the same brush, especially when things get heated. Its not the majority of players, but it is hard to sort actual, useful posts from the flames surrounding them. The fact remains there is toxic behavior, but not everyone is taking part. And its not just one toxic post and moving on, its hammering it home every chance they get.
Using the typos as an example... its literally they see it, and go to war. And they need to beat on it to prove their point. And anyone who contradicts them either gets brushed aside or becomes an accessory target.
Think of it like this... you have a bunch of people in a room discussing how to solve a problem and an argument breaks out, with some people actually yelling and verbally attacking. What's gonna happen? More attention is drawn to the yelling. You can't hear anyone over the yelling. Right now we're facing the text forum version of that. We may have legit criticizm and constructive feedback... but its being drowned out by the flamethrowers. Who wants to try and read through a flamefest to get the actual, honest feedback? It blurs together. And it doesn't help matters when mods have to try and figure out what's going on either in an effort to keep the peace, sometimes manually without a report to follow up on.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
"OK. But that's worse. You do get how that's worse, right?"
The team knows there is only a minority, but yet it always somehow ends up "painting the majority with the same brush" in its eyes. While it's not immediate, it's still putting all players and the vocal, toxic majority who DM, give death treats, stalk, etc... in the same bag. And that's not supposed to happen. Especially not so repeatedly that some players can predict the outcome.
But isn't that like the point of a moderator?
To moderate forums, identify and extinguish the flames before they engulf the whole thread, instead of torching the whole thing and hope the same people will behave in another one? Especially since it's apparently a vocal minority that is the problem and can be ignored when making in-game decisions.
A mod, once again. That's the whole point of having them in a community.
That reminds me of the (incredibly bad) teaching method of "I don't know who started this and I don't care, you're all punished."
As far as the communication goes between devs and players: many players (including myself) often wonder what "player base" is the driving force for some of the decisions that have been made in the past. I think that what is being seen at this point is part of an issue that has been growing for a long time. Again, I don't agree the extremes that some have gone too; but, I unfortunately cannot say I am surprised at this point. Everything from the forums, to Twitter, to Facebook as the mentality that is you disagree with a decision that was made: you are some how wrong for how you feel. You voice your opinion on the forum: without name calling, without threat of violence, and you take your chances of being "crawled." You send in suggestions or make suggestions to the forum that aren't acknowledged. They when something like this takes place and things "explode" people are caught in the middle.
I would not want to be the community manager of this forum or STO. I would not want to be a dev for STO. I am just an avid fan of Star Trek and someone who enjoys playing STO. Do I keep my opinions to myself on how I feel about certain things in the game? Yes I do: as I am of the mentality that one player's opinion doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things.
There is no denying that questions asked about how or why things have been done has resulted in a backlash from those who "operate" STO that has been directed back at the player base. That is been seen on Twitter, YouTube, and other places. There have been times that questions have been asked with the response "I am not going to answer that." Yes, I know.... Sometimes things can't be answered or addressed as the spur of the moment; but, wording plays a BIG key in how something is viewed or received. I know sometimes you don't have the information to answer a question. I get that. That is fine. No one can remember everything at once. Having said that: something does need to change before we ALL lose Star Trek Online.
Yes, every MMO has its ups and downs. Yes, every thing software based has issues. Yes, everything can't always be perfect. Nevertheless, there comes a point where both sides (devs and players) need to be acknowledged with mutual understanding. There is no civil discourse between anyone anymore. In an article I read recently: software devs and gaming companies need to be careful of the fine lines between profit, player experiences, game development, and treating their player base as "cash cows." Many recent decisions have made many feel that those in charge of STO are less concerned about the player experience/enjoyment and more about pushing this next lockbox ship or making some change that costs real world dollars to take advantage of. I get it. Star Trek Online has bills and employees to pay. However, there needs to be a common ground found between both devs and players and it cannot be one sided as it has been here recently.
Do I have the answers on how to do this? Nope!!! I can't say that I do. However, Kael is right.... Everyone (devs and players both) need to take a deep breath, calm down, and try to work through this together. STO can't survive with the "us vs them" mentality. STO cannot take the stand of "take it or leave it" as that is not right as well. Players cannot continue to be threatening psychical harm or wishing "ill will" on a dev or someone at Star Trek Online. Yes, Star Trek fans are very passionate with Star Trek Online fans being equally so. However, passion for something is not a free pass to say whatever to someone without any thought of human kindness or respect. Good or bad decisions: players need to respect the devs and those in charge of STO. By the same token: devs and those in charge of STO need to respect the players as well. Right now: not much respect is given to either side and that is a bombshell in itself. My suggestion would be to focus on the current event going on, refrain from the "politics" of us vs them, and give devs and CM time to process and discuss how this was received. Those who never try never make a mistake and those who never make a mistake never learn. Ok... This latest change was not well received. Give those at STO time to figure what could have been done differently. We all need to be careful, be respectful, and try to be patient with each other (players, devs, and CM alike).
So does that justify personal attacks somehow?
A mod's job gets harder when there's more and more chaos to try and get through, sometimes manually. And we're not paid to do this. We're volunteers.
We got three mods total. Myself being the rookie still learning how far to go. Our job gets easier when people report problem posts. It allows us to zero in on things a lot quicker. The report button allows us to do precision strikes, versus the carpet bombing we sometimes have to do in threads when it just spirals out of control. We're only human as well, and in the case of the other two mods, have RL responsibilities. Our role as mods is made easier or harder by the community either working with us or against us.
There's a fine line we walk. We take flak quite a bit for actions we take as well. If we start redacting problematic posts from certain individuals more often than others in a thread, we get called out for "censorship" or mod abuse. We nuke a whole thread that can't be salvaged, we get called out for it. We had a whole thread over thread closure. It ain't easy. We try to do what we can, but even we can get overwhelmed because we're just as human as the next forumite. I'm personally feeling overwhelmed right now, and when I ask for help from the community on something like keeping the peace, I mean it. I want help because I'm only human. I can't just sit here and take flak and sort through flames all the time. I need breaks to get away from the drama, and I'd like to be able to zero in on the specific problems rather than have to read an entire thread and get overwhelmed. Without help from people reporting posts... its a lot to deal with. I've gotten praise as a mod because I try to be fair, understanding, and generally being a real person. But even I have my limits and I try to keep that from showing on the forums when I have to do the Mod thing.
Mods need all the help they can get, especially in times like this, to actually sort through the flames without snapping themselves.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode