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With the collapse of the DILEX, I can no longer defend this game's business model

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  • fleetcaptain5#1134 fleetcaptain5 Member Posts: 5,051 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    (redacted material quote removed) - darkbladejk


    Asking for more ways to spend dilithium can be part of the solution. But the easy earning needs to be addressed too indeed.

    Some things that might help in that regard are the creation of account limits to refinement. That would indeed hardly hurt casual players if said limit were higher than the current character limit of 8000 (or 9000 on some days when including fleet and lifetime bonuses).

    If an account limit were set of, say, 24.000, few casual players would suffer. But it would indeed hurt the players using 20 characters with Admiralty rosters of 100 ships, tons of security officers for Strike against fugitive support network and confiscate contraband and so on.

    The problem isn't just that there's too little to spend dilithium on. Cause you'll never have enough of such opportunities if supply is endless.


    Oh, and such a solution could also involve finally doing something about campers in the Voth ground battlezone for example.
    Post edited by darkbladejk on
  • fleetcaptain5#1134 fleetcaptain5 Member Posts: 5,051 Arc User
    Oh, and an account wide limit to refinement would of course not only hurt those grinding huge amounts of dilithium. It could also help them if the Zen price were lowered, making the dilithium they're so eager to get more valuable indeed.

    And, who knows. It might mean they can also spend more time doing fun things in the game instead of starting another 50 assignments. ;)
  • doctorstegidoctorstegi Member Posts: 1,226 Arc User
    There has never been a real attempt on fixing this issue and I highly doubt there will be one. I remember threads like throw out your ideas to burn dillithium all just to pretend somebody actually working on the problem. I would not put my hand in fire over this.
    C-Store Inc. is still looking for active members on the fed side. If you don't have a fleet feel free to contact me in game @stegi.
  • fleetcaptain5#1134 fleetcaptain5 Member Posts: 5,051 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    There has never been a real attempt on fixing this issue and I highly doubt there will be one. I remember threads like throw out your ideas to burn dillithium all just to pretend somebody actually working on the problem. I would not put my hand in fire over this.

    I think you're right.

    To be honest, I'm just here because I like the discussion, not because I expect any significant change to be made soon. :p
  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,671 Bug Hunter
    edited January 2022
    But really, this has nothing to do with STO, or the topic at hand. If Cryptic wants to fix the DilEx they need to:
    -Make an account wide daily refinement cap of like 30K-50K dil.
    -Add in a new fleet holding as a short term sink to drain a lot of the dil out in the immediate future.
    -Add items from the Mudd's store that have slowed in sales into the Phoenix boxes, and give every fleet holding useful post completion projects, to encourage for sustained dil spending in the long run.
    -Maybe shave off like 10% off of all dil rewards in the game to adjust for how much easier it is to get dil from everything now.

    ...

    For content issues STO needs to work on content visibility/sustainability. Trying to add in new features all the time isn't sustainable since players can always eat through content faster then the devs can make it. STO has tons of story missions, TFOs, patrols, and battlezones, which are rarely played because people don't know about them, or they have aged poorly in some way (usually mechanics/rewards)...
    westmetals wrote: »

    But really, this has nothing to do with STO, or the topic at hand. If Cryptic wants to fix the DilEx they need to
    -Make an account wide daily refinement cap of like 30K-50K dil.
    -Add in a new fleet holding as a short term sink to drain a lot of the dil out in the immediate future.
    -Add items from the Mudd's store that have slowed in sales into the Phoenix boxes, and give every fleet holding useful post completion projects, to encourage for sustained dil spending in the long run.
    -Maybe shave off like 10% off of all dil rewards in the game to adjust for how much easier it is to get dil from everything now.

    Um... no, they don't "need" to do ALL of those things. In particular the first one...

    But... what if their desired spending level is zero?

    Which is the case for a lot of older/advanced players, because they've already done everything you can do with dilithium except buying zen.

    In other words, scarcity does not necessarily create demand.

    So then your attack on earnings simply harms newer players who still want dilithium for things that have NOTHING to do with the Exchange, and won't affect it.

    Because... there's basically four different kinds of economic behaviors here....

    1. Players farming dilithium to use it as dilithium
    2. Players farming dilithium to exchange for zen
    3. Players buying zen and exchanging for dilithium
    4. Players buying zen (or not) and not exchanging it for dilithium

    1 and 3 are players who have not yet reached the logical limits of dilithium spending methods that currently exist. 2 and 4 are (generally) post-limit players.

    BUT... 1 and 4 have no impact on the exchange!

    Introducing new and meaningful ways to SPEND dilithium will... pull players from group 4 back into 3 and at the same time pull players out of group 2 into group 1... both of which will help restore the previous 2/3 balance.

    My response to the first quote is, I don't think some or many would help the DILEX. Like reducing the Reward from 1:1 for 8000 DIL down from 8000 Fleet Credits to 7,200 would discourage people from donating their DIL even more, they be best to do nothing.

    In Neverwinter 3-4 years ago they allowed a 100,000 Account Limit, yet many also stopped playing and caring about several Characters. Several countless others also left entirely, and they're still trying to recover from that years later. Also you could refine it all on a single character, so if you had unrefined amounts very high that also actually far more hurt the Exchange than helped! Consider those who have Character's with several Millions refined like (10 to 25+) or more who play mostly 1-3 characters some have maxed the Unrefined DIL they can earn! Now suddenly with a week be able to refine 700,000k on just a single toon in a week, that would actually make the problem far worse! And would actually greatly discourage many people to buy DILITHIUM.

    They could perhaps ensure a daily refinement of 8,000 per Character, yet out to a (maximum) of 100,000 per account. Yet if they could do that, why didn't they in Neverwinter? That would have to exclude the 500 Daily refinement for Lifers of course. Still doing this be pointless, they need to address the CORE problem, and won't happen till they expand Fleet Holdings.

    -

    Yes and many fit into the 1 & 3 Category like myself, and countless others. My response to the 2nd quoted item. Cause I'm always saving up 40,000 Phoenix Token's so I can upgrade the latest items I desire to try out. Either that or I'm donating DIL to Fleet Projects, it's why most Level 85 Fleets fully slot Provisions as it allows new members to earn marks. Aside from Coordinate Colonization, or expunge/unload Surplus Fleet Marks. Most won't slot the unload project as it reduces Fleet Credit by 50% and new Fleet Members don't like that option!

    ▬▬♫♪♫♪♪▬▬♫♪▬▬▬▬♫♪♫♪♪▬▬♫♪▬▬▬▬♫♪♫♪♪▬▬♫♪▬▬▬▬♫♪♫♪♪▬▬♫♪▬▬
    The @thegrandnagus1 is wise and hit the nail square on the head, when he stated (which I quoted) a previous page on what kept the DILEX stable for years; the in flow of expanded Fleet Holdings were missing!

    It's why I suggested expanding and refreshing all Tier III Holdings out to Tier IV, as I had done several months even a year or more before; that give one expansion a year for the next 5 years. They also not be starting from Scratch! Also perhaps an opportunity to refresh some of the looks at several older Holdings with a few new DIL projects, perhaps even for a Tier 5 Refresh or Modernization unlock too! In time perhaps consider a Ferengi Commerce Commission also to Tier IV that used Fleet Credit, GPL & DIL depending on the Items sold; Ferengi can never resist GPL, and on some items may require it. ;)

    I also think they should return EVENT Ships back to Phoenix Epic Tokens, as Mudd's has shifted mostly to Lockbox/Lobi/Promo Ship Choice Packs. They could sometimes offer 1 a year in Mudd's, yet more often offer 1-2 to Phoenix so it expands. Perhaps also consider the Blue or Purple Commodities that I quoted another individual having suggested; as Uncommon to Very Rare tokens depending how many of random types you get. o:)
    Post edited by strathkin on
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  • legendarylycan#5411 legendarylycan Member Posts: 37,284 Arc User
    None of the mark boxes have any restrictions anymore - those were removed when their respective recruit event was revamped with additional rewards.​​
    Like special weapons from other Star Trek games? Wondering if they can be replicated in STO even a little bit? Check this out: https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1262277/a-mostly-comprehensive-guide-to-star-trek-videogame-special-weapons-and-their-sto-equivalents

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  • blitzy4blitzy4 Member Posts: 839 Arc User
    strathkin wrote: »
    blitzy4 wrote: »
    I had another thought for this. Make those odd little blue and purple Commodities https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Commodities purchasable in packs through the uncommon phoenix box rewards

    I also really like this idea, I mean the blue Commodities likely be popular, as would the purple variations (depending on the quantities) - they'd likely be account-bound, yet still give a lot of options for people to expand &/or save up some or several of each. I could see the Rare Commodities being a Uncommon or Rare Phoenix Token, and the Very Rare being perhaps a Rare or Very Rare Token. It would just depend how many each gave.

    Very good idea there Blitzy, even though others are too focused to take note of this!

    It's technically the wrong thread.... so understandable.
    jKixCmJ.jpg
    "..and like children playing after sunset, we were surrounded by darkness." -Ruri Hoshino



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  • live8evillive8evil Member Posts: 131 Arc User
    I'm a small-fish dil farmer and had to up my grind game x3 previous year, because that was the only way to keep up with the constant bombardment with time-limited mudds bundles and their time-limited -50% offerings. Just saying. Ah and the market started to crash in the same time. The price and temptation are to damn high.
  • haamre00haamre00 Member Posts: 17 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    As someone who plays FF14... I feel I need to address some of this myself.
    [...] once you actually HAVE a house the housing system is frickin' amazing in the fact you can decorate it in ANY way you want with little to no restriction on where you can put things. AND you can actually visit other players houses and see what they've done with theirs. TOR, by contrast, can't just walk up to another player's yard, and you're limited by what can fit in certain nodes.

    ...so, is it actually similar to what you can have (deco-wise) in Conan: Exiles, or what was in the old Star Wars: Galaxies (1px movement control of basically any item inside the house, no restrictions, could kit-bash everything to your heart's content)...?
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  • live8evillive8evil Member Posts: 131 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    One of my ideas is to smack a fat DIL price on weapon visual customisation. Like charge 10K DIL for changing your ugly looking sensor linked to pretty regular phaser visual. And then charge even more to make them sound like regular phasers. This is a sink that would go on indefinetly, is not messing around with existing systems (like the stupid dil charge for endeavor/admirality reroll tokens) and is actualy something MANY players wish as an option. It should have it's own tab in item upgrade menu and be called "change weapon signature".

    p.s. and charge EVEN MORE to make some types look like others: plasma cannons with phaser visual/audio for example.
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  • protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
    I just think it would be great if the entire player base could take part in something that by design is intended to take a long time to complete, and be able to see the progress tangibly made manifest in the actual game world. Anyone who participates will be able to honestly say "I helped build that.

    Watching a server wide version of "I've got the marks but not any dilithium, EC, or doffs" would be priceless.
  • equinox976equinox976 Member Posts: 2,305 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    I remember a lot of people complaining about them doing this with New Romulus, because it was obvious that they were just doing it to waste people's time by drawing out what should be a short thing for far longer then it needed to be. This is why Cryptic hasn't done anything like it since, and later decoupled the New Romulus missions from the rep entirely. It's not something people enjoy. It's just one of the most hated forms of content time gating.

    ...


    Not really? The DilEx did well under F2P for nearly a decade. The collapse of the DilEx is because Cryptic stopped adding new fleet holdings, and stopped adding new things to the Phoenix boxes, to keep it under control. This has nothing to do with the game being F2P.

    Your account was created in Oct 2021. Now please, tell us more about how you remember when New Romulus was added to the game, and how you know how the dilex worked for nearly a decade. It's so interesting how you magically know all of this stuff from years ago!

    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,689 Arc User
    equinox976 wrote: »
    Your account was created in Oct 2021. Now please, tell us more about how you remember when New Romulus was added to the game, and how you know how the dilex worked for nearly a decade. It's so interesting how you magically know all of this stuff from years ago!

    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.

    Yep, I first played in 2012 but my forum profile says I didn't create an account here until October 2014.
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  • trekfangrrrl#6910 trekfangrrrl Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    equinox976 wrote: »
    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that you forum account date can't be different than your game account age. What I'm saying is that you don't wait 10 years to create your forum account. A brand new forum account isn't suddenly an expert of the game talking about things that happened a decade ago. When you see that, it's an obvious sign of an alt.
    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.

    Actually, there is every reason to suggest this specific person is lying. Here are the reasons:
    • Alt account in question was created after main account was banned.
    • Alt account in question is a brand new account but is somehow an expert on things from 10 years ago.
    • Alt account in question posts/talks in the exact same manner as the main account that was banned (long posts, list responses, multi-quote responses breaking down posts they disagree with, defending cryptic while blaming players, constantly citing examples of things in other games).
    • Alt account in question is named after something from homeworld, and main account in question previously stated they liked to use homeworld names for their forum handles (and has a homeworld themed handle for their reddit account).

    It's not that any single one point proves it, but all of them together certainly do.
  • trekfangrrrl#6910 trekfangrrrl Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    I'll also repeat that the person in question has a "tell" that they probably aren't aware of, but it is what tipped me off to who they were.

    I'm not going to say it publicly, because they might stop doing it. But if any of the mods want to know they can PM me.
  • equinox976equinox976 Member Posts: 2,305 Arc User
    equinox976 wrote: »
    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that you forum account date can't be different than your game account age. What I'm saying is that you don't wait 10 years to create your forum account. A brand new forum account isn't suddenly an expert of the game talking about things that happened a decade ago. When you see that, it's an obvious sign of an alt.
    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.

    Actually, there is every reason to suggest this specific person is lying. Here are the reasons:
    • Alt account in question was created after main account was banned.
    • Alt account in question is a brand new account but is somehow an expert on things from 10 years ago.
    • Alt account in question posts/talks in the exact same manner as the main account that was banned (long posts, list responses, multi-quote responses breaking down posts they disagree with, defending cryptic while blaming players).
    • Alt account in question is named after something from homeworld, and main account in question previously stated they liked to use homeworld names for their forum handles (and has a homeworld themed handle for their reddit account).

    It's not that any single one point proves it, but all of them together certainly do.

    Fair enough. Personally I have no issue with banned people making a new account. We all act stupid sometimes, I got banned myself from the Atari forums a looong time ago when I was a lot more immature (wel I still am a bit) mind you the moderation in those days was incredibly harsh compared to the Crpytic mods.

    Dunno the history of the person you are refering too, but perhaps theyve grown up a bit, perhaps not.

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=QxsppmyHPHE&ab_channel=MusicLyrics-ImagineDragons
  • trekfangrrrl#6910 trekfangrrrl Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    equinox976 wrote: »
    equinox976 wrote: »
    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that you forum account date can't be different than your game account age. What I'm saying is that you don't wait 10 years to create your forum account. A brand new forum account isn't suddenly an expert of the game talking about things that happened a decade ago. When you see that, it's an obvious sign of an alt.
    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.

    Actually, there is every reason to suggest this specific person is lying. Here are the reasons:
    • Alt account in question was created after main account was banned.
    • Alt account in question is a brand new account but is somehow an expert on things from 10 years ago.
    • Alt account in question posts/talks in the exact same manner as the main account that was banned (long posts, list responses, multi-quote responses breaking down posts they disagree with, defending cryptic while blaming players).
    • Alt account in question is named after something from homeworld, and main account in question previously stated they liked to use homeworld names for their forum handles (and has a homeworld themed handle for their reddit account).

    It's not that any single one point proves it, but all of them together certainly do.

    Fair enough. Personally I have no issue with banned people making a new account. We all act stupid sometimes, I got banned myself from the Atari forums a looong time ago when I was a lot more immature (wel I still am a bit) mind you the moderation in those days was incredibly harsh compared to the Crpytic mods.

    Dunno the history of the person you are refering too, but perhaps theyve grown up a bit, perhaps not.

    I'm fine with it too as long as that is the officially accepted policy. If it is, then everyone who has every been banned can create a new account now. And that also means people can behave however they want from now on, because they know that if they get banned they can just create a new alt. So if the mods are cool with that, cool with me too.
  • equinox976equinox976 Member Posts: 2,305 Arc User
    equinox976 wrote: »
    equinox976 wrote: »
    A persons forum account and game account can be different ages. My Forum account is pretty old, but I've played since the day the game was released so my game account is even older (and even had a Atari forum account prior to the forum switch).

    Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that you forum account date can't be different than your game account age. What I'm saying is that you don't wait 10 years to create your forum account. A brand new forum account isn't suddenly an expert of the game talking about things that happened a decade ago. When you see that, it's an obvious sign of an alt.
    So there is no reason to suggest this person is lying.

    Actually, there is every reason to suggest this specific person is lying. Here are the reasons:
    • Alt account in question was created after main account was banned.
    • Alt account in question is a brand new account but is somehow an expert on things from 10 years ago.
    • Alt account in question posts/talks in the exact same manner as the main account that was banned (long posts, list responses, multi-quote responses breaking down posts they disagree with, defending cryptic while blaming players).
    • Alt account in question is named after something from homeworld, and main account in question previously stated they liked to use homeworld names for their forum handles (and has a homeworld themed handle for their reddit account).

    It's not that any single one point proves it, but all of them together certainly do.

    Fair enough. Personally I have no issue with banned people making a new account. We all act stupid sometimes, I got banned myself from the Atari forums a looong time ago when I was a lot more immature (wel I still am a bit) mind you the moderation in those days was incredibly harsh compared to the Crpytic mods.

    Dunno the history of the person you are refering too, but perhaps theyve grown up a bit, perhaps not.

    I'm fine with it too as long as that is the officially accepted policy. If it is, then everyone who has every been banned can create a new account now. And that also means people can behave however they want from now on, because they know that if they get banned they can just create a new alt. So if the mods are cool with that, cool with me too.

    Mmm, not quite what I was getting at. I was more hinting at giving people second chances, rather than inviting anarchy lol. But I see you point :)
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,880 Arc User
    edited January 2022
    I don't know about any specific "tell" since I pay more attention to the issues themselves than any writing quirks a person may have, though that could very well identify someone if it is unique enough. The caveat of course is that whatever it is may not be unique enough, so someone else could have the same one.

    On the other hand, the forum account start date is not a good indicator at all since people could lurk for a long time before deciding to get involved in the forum. I play ESO regularly and never posted anything at all in their forums for instance. Forum account creation date does not even always work in the few game forums that tie directly to the play account if they allow multiple accounts.

    For example, my forum account started in early 2018 after I returned to STO but I first started playing STO (for a short time) in 2016 before returning in 2018 when I actually had time to play. Even then my original Cryptic account is older than that, I started playing in CO in 2011 when it went F2P.

    I ended up making a second one in 2018 when recovering my original account seemed problematic, especially since I came back to STO via my Steam group and they tended to jump around a lot so I did not have much time to try and recover my old one if I wanted to play STO with the group (and sure enough, about a month later they bailed for another game, I am the only one who stayed and played it regularly though some of the others turn up now and then for a little while).

    Personally, it does not bother me if someone disagrees with what I say in comments, (discussing the points is what forums are about and differing points of view are essential for that), as long as they don't turn everything into personal attacks that have nothing to do with the issues discussed.
  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 58,667 Community Moderator
    I'm fine with it too as long as that is the officially accepted policy. If it is, then everyone who has every been banned can create a new account now. And that also means people can behave however they want from now on, because they know that if they get banned they can just create a new alt. So if the mods are cool with that, cool with me too.

    Actually... its not cool with us mods. It just takes us a while to CONFIRM if they're circumventing a ban depending on certain things. If you got banned for a reason and make a new account to continue such behavior... that's not allowed. We will identify you, and we will drop the Ban'leth again. I think there may be a way to dispute a ban through official channels, but if you're just making a new forum account to cause MORE trouble and "rub it in the face of the mods that 'I'm back (censored word)! Try and stop me!'"... yea... don't expect mercy once we confirm ID through official space magic.

    I don't know the stance on bans dating back to Atari days, but far as I know bans are final, and usually given after several warnings depending on severity of infraction, and spam bots get instantly shot out a torpedo tube.

    @darkbladejk @wingedhussar#7584
    Care to add your 2 ECs on this particular detail?
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    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!)
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