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
Well... technically speaking, STO has a faster schedule than most games like WoW or FF14. Its just that the content drops are smaller. With WoW, far as I know you have to wait years for the next full on Expansion for anything new, granted said new is a LOT to do anyways. With FF14 there's the expansions, and then there's the post expansion patch content.
So in terms of release schedule, I'd put STO at fast but small, then FF14 at large but moderate timing, and WoW at massive and LONG wait.
Its also kinda dependant on the size of the team as well. WoW and FF14 are backed by MAJOR players in the MMO universe, so they naturally have much larger teams. STO, on the other hand, is nowhere near that. And IMO if it takes a few months for a high quality mission or two... I'd take that over putting out busywork missions like Of Bajor in the 2800 Feature Episode Series.
Taking time do things properly don't get me wrong the issue STO has with this though is that bugs errors and issues found in tribble and properly reported are not fixed addressed at all with very few examples when it was. Usually, they will take time make the map or system which is good but then releasee with a lot of errors that were found and reported in Tribble or redshirts. Look what happened with the new high detail ships most of theme still have errors and bugs in then long after they were released still not fixed.
Yes, the company puts out more content faster but at a cost of quality and i would take quality and slow releases over fast poor worked releases. Don't get me wrong even Wow and FFIV and ESO have released bugged releases and with errors but when reported they didn't mess around and got to fixing theme quickly. When the same happens with STO a bug or error is reported seems to me at least and is taken that there are excuses for not doing it from lack of staff and workload and they don't have the time. Don't get me wrong this may be the case but if so, the solution has been said by the community for these many times and with no change.
I have also seen companies that are much smaller the Cryptic put out content just as fast with a lot more quality and care for the community then what has been happening for some time now. Also, the community is frustrated and tired of asking a question and always getting what seems to be the constant answer either A no time to can't be done or staffing issues. That be like going to a car dealership buying a car they hand you the steering wheel and say car will come and a year later still no car and just excuses over the year you ask or years in some cases.
After a while you be frustrated and angry at the same time and stop asking and would start to demand answers this after a year or more of giving, we don't have enough employees to help you, after they ask you for more money or put your cars parts behind a lock box requiring you to spend more than what the parts price is and still not getting it. Then when you ask when will i get the car and for a reasonable price they say nope only way we make money is by putting your parts in this box and having you spend way too much for it just to get the lug nut for the wheels on your car you still don't have.
Your car analogy doesn't hold up, because there's nothing in a Lockbox that you NEED to play the game. The game is absolutely playable without having to spend a single cent. As for bugs, issue there is, most players don't provide enough information for the devs to go on, so it takes longer to actually find and fix the problem. On top of that, the devs may not be able to reproduce the error. It's difficult to fix a problem that can't be reproduced.
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
TBH, I've lost all hope for this game when it comes to the ship/gambling situation. Despite the fact that the game itself is "free", for me the pace of new content is simply too slow to make up for the truly horrible lockbox situation that is now the norm for basically any desirable ship that appears on a TV show going forward.
Because of my LTS I'll still check in to play the tiny bits of new content that drip out every blue moon, but it's definitely not enough to be my "main" go-to game anymore. I really really really hope we get eventually get some laws that destroy this lockbox type of business model and games have to rely on making actual content to sustain themselves again
Another disapointment as another ship behind rng, ill always support the game, ive spend hundreds on gambling boxes in STO, but never more.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
The blue posts here are abit agressive mate, we dont need these ships to the fights but every player likes to progress to better ships and almost all the good ones, including the good looking ones (thats a very big part od end game to alot, myself included), are behing rng paywalls.
Il never spend another single euro here again, unless its a straight buy from c store and not some gambling one.
as for the usual "sell keys and get credits" answer, if everyone does it there will be no ships to sell or keys bought.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
would that be true if the c store ships were as good as the rng ones?
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
would that be true if the c store ships were as good as the rng ones?
"Good" refers to performance IMO, so I think "desirable" is a better term. Fact is, any new "iconic" ship from this point forward is going in a gamble pack unless they already have some pre-existing version of it already available in the C-store, which kind of "forces their hand" to put new/updated version in the C-store too.
But essentially, anything cool we see in the shows that isn't already in game and already in the C-store is going in a gamble pack. And that is why the gamble pack stuff will keep selling better; because that is why any new cool stuff from the shows is going.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
would that be true if the c store ships were as good as the rng ones?
There are good C-Store ships, and several highly desirable traits are on C-Store ships as well. Gamblebox ships also aren't always good either, just look at the Parliament class for example. Quality doesn't seem to be the primary cause of increased sales imo, if I had to guess I'd say it has more to do with:
1) Keys and Promo Packs being tradable
2) Perceived exclusivity due to rarity
The in-game economy pretty much runs entirely on keys and, to a lesser extent, promo packs. People who essentially want to
buy EC buy keys or promo packs and put them on the exchange, making them widely available to everyone, and whenever a new gamble ship comes out demand for keys or packs spikes resulting in more people selling them on the exchange. And one thing WoW has taught me is that for some reason people LOVE having digital items that other players can't get, which is why I mentioned the rarity thing.
And that is why the gamble pack stuff will keep selling better; because that is why any new cool stuff from the shows is going.
The discrepancy in sales was apparent before there WERE any new shows to get ship ideas from. And aside from the hero ships most of the Disco S1 ships went in the C-Store anyway.
The discrepancy in sales was apparent before there WERE any new shows to get ship ideas from.
No doubt; people with addictions are going to spend a ton of money chasing their pipe dream.
And aside from the hero ships most of the Disco S1 ships went in the C-Store anyway.
I know time flies, but that was actually several years ago now and all ships that have appeared in shows since then (with exception of those already with a C-store counterpart like the Luna) have been put in the gamble packs.
The days of any cool new ship from the shows going in the store are simply over, period.
The new rule is simple: if you want any cool new ship from a show, you have to gamble to get it.
The days of any cool new ship from the shows going in the store are simply over, period.
The new rule is simple: if you want any cool new ship from a show, you have to gamble to get it.
I don't think that's necessarily true, I think there's a chance (a very slim chance) we could see era-appropriate ships only seen in the background get the C-Store treatment, though it would depend on how many new canon ships they have backlogged and how many C-Store ships they already have planned out. The only currently unreleased ships I think might have a shot though would be the Confederation versions of the Nova and Steamrunner, since they use the same model as the Fed versions just with different decals and a new material.
Anything that's a hero ship or otherwise highly desirable though WILL be a gamblebox ship, absolutely. Even potential variants of existing C-Store ships, like the Excelsior II or World Razer, will be in gambleboxes.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
The US congress is unlikely to pass anything that bans the less egregious of the gamble-boxes (like the ones STO has) because it would impact a lot of things outside of online gaming that use the same techniques to avoid being classed as gambling. But on the off-chance that they do, STO already has a fallback in place (the one that appeared when the EU was making noises about banning the boxes), the FOMO (not gamble) based Mudd's Market.
A lot of other games are doing that as a fallback if the gamble mechanics go away too, not always explicit FOMO stores like Mudd's, but the idea of (usually) higher than normal priced things that go through various rolling schemes with an uncertainty about when or if it might go on sale again is getting more common nowadays.
Huh. And here I thought one's return on investment was enjoying playing the game. Silly me.
that ROI tends to get diminished real fast when items are continually being placed in some form of a box, in the lobi store, and/or mudds.
not sure why the company things that this venue of attempted access to get stuff is fun. its not. and honestly, aside from the multitude of unfixed bugs, this is why i have not played this game for several months now. my ROI has met its match. obviously your ROI still has gas in the tank.
When you say "that ROI," are you referring to my reference of "enjoying playing the game?" If so, I'm not understanding how items being placed in lockboxes, etc. diminishes one's enjoyment of actually playing the game. Items are just acquiring stuff. Stuff that's not at all necessary for actually playing the game. Of course, items can enhance the enjoyment of playing the game, but again, not at all necessary for said enjoyment of playing the game.
Another thing that also confuses me is individuals, such as yourself, who admittedly no longer play the game (for months, years), but continue to come on the forum to complain about a game they no longer play and therefore are no longer affected by. If the state of the game distresses one so much that they must stop playing it, I don't understand why one would continue to subject oneself to further distress though forum discussion. Seems oddly masochistic to me.
I am sorry that you no longer derive any enjoyment from playing the game, though. But yes, my ROI still has "gas in the tank" as you say. I can always find something enjoyable to do in STO. 😊
no longer effected by it in the immediate sense, however, i continue to maintain a presence, "should," anything worth wild come to the forefront to try out.
i find it ironic that replies like yours and the inevitable "you dont need to reply," "just dont post," are often flung around as well in cases where there is no thought process.
instead, why not ask what makes myself, or others, not sign in and play for months or years at a time.
Well, you (and others) make it abundantly clear why you no longer login, so that's not something I need ask about. I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your insight.
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I try not to get all that worked up whenever a new ship gets sold in a way that I'll never participate in. I just see them losing money because of how much I spend on buying ship packs from the zen store. The other day I happened to notice that my admiralty has about 200 ships in it, and I know there are tons that I've bought that aren't even on that list, but 200 is way more than enough to run admiralty missions all day long back to back. When it's something I like, I spend lots of money on it, but I avoid the rng stuff unless I actually want the product that you get from participating in those random sales anyway.
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I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious.
I love the game and have a lot of fun discussing it, the only thing preventing me from logging in more frequently is the dev team's small size and subsequent inability to put out a sufficient amount of content. To be clear I do not blame the devs for that at all and that is not meant as an attack on them, they all do amazing work even if I don't always agree with every decision they make, it's the people above them who decide how much funding to give the game that I blame.
Another thing that also confuses me is individuals, such as yourself, who admittedly no longer play the game (for months, years), but continue to come on the forum to complain about a game they no longer play and therefore are no longer affected by. If the state of the game distresses one so much that they must stop playing it, I don't understand why one would continue to subject oneself to further distress though forum discussion. Seems oddly masochistic to me.
I am sorry that you no longer derive any enjoyment from playing the game, though. But yes, my ROI still has "gas in the tank" as you say. I can always find something enjoyable to do in STO. 😊[/color]
Well, you (and others) make it abundantly clear why you no longer login, so that's not something I need ask about. I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your insight.
So nice to see that volunteer moderators on this forum can be snarky - but when a actual player posts a bit of irony - it's:
"Trolling comments moderated out..."
yep, no double standard here.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Huh. And here I thought one's return on investment was enjoying playing the game. Silly me.
that ROI tends to get diminished real fast when items are continually being placed in some form of a box, in the lobi store, and/or mudds.
not sure why the company things that this venue of attempted access to get stuff is fun. its not. and honestly, aside from the multitude of unfixed bugs, this is why i have not played this game for several months now. my ROI has met its match. obviously your ROI still has gas in the tank.
When you say "that ROI," are you referring to my reference of "enjoying playing the game?" If so, I'm not understanding how items being placed in lockboxes, etc. diminishes one's enjoyment of actually playing the game. Items are just acquiring stuff. Stuff that's not at all necessary for actually playing the game. Of course, items can enhance the enjoyment of playing the game, but again, not at all necessary for said enjoyment of playing the game.
Another thing that also confuses me is individuals, such as yourself, who admittedly no longer play the game (for months, years), but continue to come on the forum to complain about a game they no longer play and therefore are no longer affected by. If the state of the game distresses one so much that they must stop playing it, I don't understand why one would continue to subject oneself to further distress though forum discussion. Seems oddly masochistic to me.
I am sorry that you no longer derive any enjoyment from playing the game, though. But yes, my ROI still has "gas in the tank" as you say. I can always find something enjoyable to do in STO. 😊
no longer effected by it in the immediate sense, however, i continue to maintain a presence, "should," anything worth wild come to the forefront to try out.
i find it ironic that replies like yours and the inevitable "you dont need to reply," "just dont post," are often flung around as well in cases where there is no thought process.
instead, why not ask what makes myself, or others, not sign in and play for months or years at a time.
Well, you (and others) make it abundantly clear why you no longer login, so that's not something I need ask about. I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your insight.
genuine with a bit a snark attached?
im genuinely curious if you can post any faults you find with this game...to me, you put on a red cape and blue tights and protect cryptic from any negative criticism, be it verbiage based on personal takes, or based on factual evidence. so, please offer some insight as to what faults you see the game having.
Actually, no snark at all. I was genuinely curious. Personally, if I lost interest in this game, I would not be back to this forum. From my point of view, what would be the point? I would no longer be a part of the player community. Its issues would no longer be relevant to me. But that's just my personal take. Obviously, you (and others}) feel differently, and that's what I was curious about. Again, thanks for the insight.
Can I post about faults? Of course! And have. I don't always agree with decisions made or like certain directions taken. I'm not interested in protecting Cryptic from negative criticism. In fact, I've stated that negative criticism is fine. As a moderator I just try and make sure those negative expressions stay within the forum rules. It's quite possible to criticize without getting mean.
Another thing that also confuses me is individuals, such as yourself, who admittedly no longer play the game (for months, years), but continue to come on the forum to complain about a game they no longer play and therefore are no longer affected by. If the state of the game distresses one so much that they must stop playing it, I don't understand why one would continue to subject oneself to further distress though forum discussion. Seems oddly masochistic to me.
I am sorry that you no longer derive any enjoyment from playing the game, though. But yes, my ROI still has "gas in the tank" as you say. I can always find something enjoyable to do in STO. 😊[/color]
Well, you (and others) make it abundantly clear why you no longer login, so that's not something I need ask about. I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your insight.
So nice to see that volunteer moderators on this forum can be snarky - but when a actual player posts a bit of irony - it's:
"Trolling comments moderated out..."
yep, no double standard here.
Again, I wasn't being snarky. I was genuinely curious. And I thanked him for his insight. Not sure what double standard you believe you see there.
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Another disapointment as another ship behind rng, ill always support the game, ive spend hundreds on gambling boxes in STO, but never more.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
The blue posts here are abit agressive mate, we dont need these ships to the fights but every player likes to progress to better ships and almost all the good ones, including the good looking ones (thats a very big part od end game to alot, myself included), are behing rng paywalls.
Il never spend another single euro here again, unless its a straight buy from c store and not some gambling one.
as for the usual "sell keys and get credits" answer, if everyone does it there will be no ships to sell or keys bought.
They put a lot of new ships in the C-store. The Appalachia, Nova, Da Vinci and some others whose name I don't remember are all fairly recent additions. And just two weeks ago they added three other ships.
The Appalachia's console and trait are great for torpedo builds, the Da Vinci is a miracle worker escort that people have been asking for for a long time, the Nova had long been requested as well. The three newest ships also each have their special things.
Just because they make some ships more expensive, more special or more exclusive through gamble boxes doesn't mean that they're only putting the more desirable or good looking ones in those boxes. Those things are very subjective. Personally I enjoyed and cared more for the Appalachia, Cabot and Da Vinci and a bit longer ago the Luna than I cared for most of the latest gamble box ships.
Instead of blaming Cryptic for putting everything desirable into those boxes, one might as well state that it is the players who only desire those ships that end up in them (which is likely the case precisely because they are more exclusive). Cryptic doesn't exclusively determine what is desirable after all, that's as much a characteristic of each individual player as it is one of Cryptic's.
Maybe, but here is the part that isn't really subjective: any new ship from a new show is going in a gamble box.
That's basically it. So if you are watching the new shows and see a new ship you like, you'll only get to fly it in this game by gambling.
However, because absolute statements usually aren't true, I'll amend the above to "99.9% of new ships from new shows". That leaves room of some exception that Cryptic can put in the store just to say "see, not every new ship from a show is always in the gamble pack". But that will be the rarest exception, not the norm.
Maybe, but here is the part that isn't really subjective: any new ship from a new show is going in a gamble box.
That's basically it. So if you are watching the new shows and see a new ship you like, you'll only get to fly it in this game by gambling.
However, because absolute statements usually aren't true, I'll amend the above to "99.9% of new ships from new shows". That leaves room of some exception that Cryptic can put in the store just to say "see, not every new ship from a show is always in the gamble pack". But that will be the rarest exception, not the norm.
It's still the player's choice to desire that ship.
There was other text surrouding that snippet. I was responding to someone who talked about desirability. You can choose to keep that out and ignore it, it doesn't make my comment - as a reply to that person - less relevant.
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
The days of any cool new ship from the shows going in the store are simply over, period.
The new rule is simple: if you want any cool new ship from a show, you have to gamble to get it.
I don't think that's necessarily true, I think there's a chance (a very slim chance) we could see era-appropriate ships only seen in the background get the C-Store treatment, though it would depend on how many new canon ships they have backlogged and how many C-Store ships they already have planned out. The only currently unreleased ships I think might have a shot though would be the Confederation versions of the Nova and Steamrunner, since they use the same model as the Fed versions just with different decals and a new material.
Anything that's a hero ship or otherwise highly desirable though WILL be a gamblebox ship, absolutely. Even potential variants of existing C-Store ships, like the Excelsior II or World Razer, will be in gambleboxes.
I'd love to see, for example, the background ships from the JJ films, to be in game.....Mayflower, Saladin, Armstrong, etc...and they are mostly kitbashes based on the Kelvin, so it would be easy.
The days of any cool new ship from the shows going in the store are simply over, period.
The new rule is simple: if you want any cool new ship from a show, you have to gamble to get it.
I don't think that's necessarily true, I think there's a chance (a very slim chance) we could see era-appropriate ships only seen in the background get the C-Store treatment, though it would depend on how many new canon ships they have backlogged and how many C-Store ships they already have planned out. The only currently unreleased ships I think might have a shot though would be the Confederation versions of the Nova and Steamrunner, since they use the same model as the Fed versions just with different decals and a new material.
Anything that's a hero ship or otherwise highly desirable though WILL be a gamblebox ship, absolutely. Even potential variants of existing C-Store ships, like the Excelsior II or World Razer, will be in gambleboxes.
I'd love to see, for example, the background ships from the JJ films, to be in game.....Mayflower, Saladin, Armstrong, etc...and they are mostly kitbashes based on the Kelvin, so it would be easy.
I'd love to see every canon ship available in-game, and depending on the size CBS gives them the Mayflower could even be another Miranda variant 🤣
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
Maybe, but here is the part that isn't really subjective: any new ship from a new show is going in a gamble box.
That's basically it. So if you are watching the new shows and see a new ship you like, you'll only get to fly it in this game by gambling.
However, because absolute statements usually aren't true, I'll amend the above to "99.9% of new ships from new shows". That leaves room of some exception that Cryptic can put in the store just to say "see, not every new ship from a show is always in the gamble pack". But that will be the rarest exception, not the norm.
The majority of the Discovery era fleet, both Fed and KDF, say hello from the C-Store.
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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id wager thats cuz most people admittedly find that specific series less than desirable.
That has nothing to do with it. Disco Fed was added as a new faction, so Disco era ships were era-appropriate for the C-Store. If it wasn't for the applicable faction they would probably all be Lockbox and Promo ships like the Disco S3 ships are.
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Your car analogy doesn't hold up, because there's nothing in a Lockbox that you NEED to play the game. The game is absolutely playable without having to spend a single cent. As for bugs, issue there is, most players don't provide enough information for the devs to go on, so it takes longer to actually find and fix the problem. On top of that, the devs may not be able to reproduce the error. It's difficult to fix a problem that can't be reproduced.
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Because of my LTS I'll still check in to play the tiny bits of new content that drip out every blue moon, but it's definitely not enough to be my "main" go-to game anymore. I really really really hope we get eventually get some laws that destroy this lockbox type of business model and games have to rely on making actual content to sustain themselves again
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
The argument that STO needs to make money is an invalid one, simply put as a C STORE buy, STO still gets its money and all the rng is gone.
The blue posts here are abit agressive mate, we dont need these ships to the fights but every player likes to progress to better ships and almost all the good ones, including the good looking ones (thats a very big part od end game to alot, myself included), are behing rng paywalls.
Il never spend another single euro here again, unless its a straight buy from c store and not some gambling one.
as for the usual "sell keys and get credits" answer, if everyone does it there will be no ships to sell or keys bought.
They've said on the weekly Livestreams that C-Store sales aren't even close to what they make from Lockbox and Promo sales. For whatever reason people just don't buy C-Store ships like they buy gamblebox ships.
I hate the gamble mechanics too, but unfortunately they aren't going anywhere unless congress passes legislation banning them. And if that DID happen it's entirely possible Cryptic would decide STO couldn't be profitable anymore and put it in maintenance mode.
would that be true if the c store ships were as good as the rng ones?
"Good" refers to performance IMO, so I think "desirable" is a better term. Fact is, any new "iconic" ship from this point forward is going in a gamble pack unless they already have some pre-existing version of it already available in the C-store, which kind of "forces their hand" to put new/updated version in the C-store too.
But essentially, anything cool we see in the shows that isn't already in game and already in the C-store is going in a gamble pack. And that is why the gamble pack stuff will keep selling better; because that is why any new cool stuff from the shows is going.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
There are good C-Store ships, and several highly desirable traits are on C-Store ships as well. Gamblebox ships also aren't always good either, just look at the Parliament class for example. Quality doesn't seem to be the primary cause of increased sales imo, if I had to guess I'd say it has more to do with:
1) Keys and Promo Packs being tradable
2) Perceived exclusivity due to rarity
The in-game economy pretty much runs entirely on keys and, to a lesser extent, promo packs. People who essentially want to
buy EC buy keys or promo packs and put them on the exchange, making them widely available to everyone, and whenever a new gamble ship comes out demand for keys or packs spikes resulting in more people selling them on the exchange. And one thing WoW has taught me is that for some reason people LOVE having digital items that other players can't get, which is why I mentioned the rarity thing.
The discrepancy in sales was apparent before there WERE any new shows to get ship ideas from. And aside from the hero ships most of the Disco S1 ships went in the C-Store anyway.
No doubt; people with addictions are going to spend a ton of money chasing their pipe dream.
I know time flies, but that was actually several years ago now and all ships that have appeared in shows since then (with exception of those already with a C-store counterpart like the Luna) have been put in the gamble packs.
The days of any cool new ship from the shows going in the store are simply over, period.
The new rule is simple: if you want any cool new ship from a show, you have to gamble to get it.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
I don't think that's necessarily true, I think there's a chance (a very slim chance) we could see era-appropriate ships only seen in the background get the C-Store treatment, though it would depend on how many new canon ships they have backlogged and how many C-Store ships they already have planned out. The only currently unreleased ships I think might have a shot though would be the Confederation versions of the Nova and Steamrunner, since they use the same model as the Fed versions just with different decals and a new material.
Anything that's a hero ship or otherwise highly desirable though WILL be a gamblebox ship, absolutely. Even potential variants of existing C-Store ships, like the Excelsior II or World Razer, will be in gambleboxes.
The US congress is unlikely to pass anything that bans the less egregious of the gamble-boxes (like the ones STO has) because it would impact a lot of things outside of online gaming that use the same techniques to avoid being classed as gambling. But on the off-chance that they do, STO already has a fallback in place (the one that appeared when the EU was making noises about banning the boxes), the FOMO (not gamble) based Mudd's Market.
A lot of other games are doing that as a fallback if the gamble mechanics go away too, not always explicit FOMO stores like Mudd's, but the idea of (usually) higher than normal priced things that go through various rolling schemes with an uncertainty about when or if it might go on sale again is getting more common nowadays.
Well, you (and others) make it abundantly clear why you no longer login, so that's not something I need ask about. I ask about the continued posting, because I am genuinely curious. Thank you for your insight.
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How incredibly unprofessional of you.
"Trolling comments moderated out..."
yep, no double standard here.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Actually, no snark at all. I was genuinely curious. Personally, if I lost interest in this game, I would not be back to this forum. From my point of view, what would be the point? I would no longer be a part of the player community. Its issues would no longer be relevant to me. But that's just my personal take. Obviously, you (and others}) feel differently, and that's what I was curious about. Again, thanks for the insight.
Can I post about faults? Of course! And have. I don't always agree with decisions made or like certain directions taken. I'm not interested in protecting Cryptic from negative criticism. In fact, I've stated that negative criticism is fine. As a moderator I just try and make sure those negative expressions stay within the forum rules. It's quite possible to criticize without getting mean.
I'm not a professional, though, so... 🤷🏼♀️
Again, I wasn't being snarky. I was genuinely curious. And I thanked him for his insight. Not sure what double standard you believe you see there.
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They put a lot of new ships in the C-store. The Appalachia, Nova, Da Vinci and some others whose name I don't remember are all fairly recent additions. And just two weeks ago they added three other ships.
The Appalachia's console and trait are great for torpedo builds, the Da Vinci is a miracle worker escort that people have been asking for for a long time, the Nova had long been requested as well. The three newest ships also each have their special things.
Just because they make some ships more expensive, more special or more exclusive through gamble boxes doesn't mean that they're only putting the more desirable or good looking ones in those boxes. Those things are very subjective. Personally I enjoyed and cared more for the Appalachia, Cabot and Da Vinci and a bit longer ago the Luna than I cared for most of the latest gamble box ships.
Instead of blaming Cryptic for putting everything desirable into those boxes, one might as well state that it is the players who only desire those ships that end up in them (which is likely the case precisely because they are more exclusive). Cryptic doesn't exclusively determine what is desirable after all, that's as much a characteristic of each individual player as it is one of Cryptic's.
Maybe, but here is the part that isn't really subjective: any new ship from a new show is going in a gamble box.
That's basically it. So if you are watching the new shows and see a new ship you like, you'll only get to fly it in this game by gambling.
However, because absolute statements usually aren't true, I'll amend the above to "99.9% of new ships from new shows". That leaves room of some exception that Cryptic can put in the store just to say "see, not every new ship from a show is always in the gamble pack". But that will be the rarest exception, not the norm.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
It's still the player's choice to desire that ship.
There was other text surrouding that snippet. I was responding to someone who talked about desirability. You can choose to keep that out and ignore it, it doesn't make my comment - as a reply to that person - less relevant.
guess I'm the only one who actually uses c store.
I'd love to see, for example, the background ships from the JJ films, to be in game.....Mayflower, Saladin, Armstrong, etc...and they are mostly kitbashes based on the Kelvin, so it would be easy.
I'd love to see every canon ship available in-game, and depending on the size CBS gives them the Mayflower could even be another Miranda variant 🤣
The majority of the Discovery era fleet, both Fed and KDF, say hello from the C-Store.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode