Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[LK]

RMT without a foundation of quality leads to a quick collapse of the foundation.

[Riggswolfe]

The problem with the C-store is most of that should be in the game itself as a way to say "sorry for not finishing things".

[Brolan]

Or: We don't have enough content, so you can buy the cool stuff instead of missioning.

[Malakili]

The problem with the C-store is most of that should be in the game itself as a way to say "sorry for not finishing things".

Incidentally, this is why Vibora Bay ended up being free.  If you've been keeping up with the Champions thread at all, when they announced the new content "expansion" (pretty liberal use of the term, but its their description), they said it would have a yet to be determined fee.  This lit a fire in the Champions community of people who said "your game didn't even come with enough content to justify the box price, this should be free as a way to help make up for that.  And to Cryptics credit at least, they did end up making it free, under heavy pressure from their community.

So, yeah, they should do that.  I don't mind the concept of the c-store to be honest, if they can make new uniforms or costumes or whatever and what to charge a small fee for them, I'm not going to care all that much.  However, the state the game was launched in really demands more free content before they start filling up the cstore.

[Tannhauser]

C-store doesn't bother me.  The patch turned out to be pretty meh though.  Stay away from exploding ships!  The colors may be pretty, but your hull won't take it.  My science ship went from 72% to 0 in one blast.  I even had some shielding there. 

They should add a Klingon and Romulan set of storylines though.  That way they keep the hardcore who can hit max and reroll into the next storyline.  Most of the curious are gone now, but still gripe on message boards.

[Ollie]

Most of the curious are gone now, but still gripe on message boards.

Sometimes I wonder if light public venting is all a subscription fee is good for nowadays. Still, forum PvP beats the poop out of what most MMOGs have on offer.

[Ollie]

Cryptic, never one to shy away from controversy, decides to implement a community feedback program called Advisory Council – a focus group of vocal fans to better gauge the community's pulse. But to boldly go where many a gaming company has gone before, they decide to ante up the retardation, skip any silly focus business altogether and hop straight to an oligarchy. Letting the majority of your player base know feedback is irrelevant always goes over well.

Linky to STO feedback thread where the peons are revolting, now at 107 pages and rising:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=147393

[Goreschach]

That is certainly some of the highest quality fanrage we've seen for some time. I applaud Cryptic for creating such an entertaining ARG.

[Stormwaltz]

Hey, I just noticed that Cryptic has a calendar noting what will be added to the game in April.

C-Store: "Pakled" – Playable Fed Species

/facepalm

Hundreds of established races in Trek lore, and they keep adding the most pathetic and hateful.

[Malakili]

Hey, I just noticed that Cryptic has a calendar noting what will be added to the game in April.

C-Store: "Pakled" – Playable Fed Species

/facepalm

Hundreds of established races in Trek lore, and they keep adding the most pathetic and hateful.

Well, thats Cryptic for you.

[Ghambit]

I just read somewhere one of the biggest fleets in STO is now basically defunct.  I feel kinda bad for some of these trekker Fleets 'cause for christ's sake they go overboard sometimes with their websites...  all for a craptastic game.

[Malakili]

I feel kinda bad for some of these trekker Fleets 'cause for christ's sake they go overboard sometimes with their websites...  all for a craptastic game.

That definitely describes the fleet of a friend of mine.

[tmp]

C-Store: "Pakled" – Playable Fed Species

/facepalm

Hundreds of established races in Trek lore, and they keep adding the most pathetic and hateful.

"The Pakleds are a heavyset humanoid species native to the Alpha Quadrant. To the casual observer, the Pakleds appear to be intellectually challenged, especially in their verbal skills."

Perhaps they figured it's a match made in heaven for their regular playerbase?

[Ghambit]

The Pakleds only APPEAR to be dimwits.  That's their game.  Then they kill you and take your loot.
Kinda like Cryptic... they really look like dumbarses, but in reality they know exactly wtf they're doing.  Sux for me and you, but they're laughing.

[raydeen]

Oh my god. I'd forgotten about those guys. 'Geordi make things go!' Now all we need are the Binars. It would be like controlling those little packs of furry things on Allods.

Has anyone unlocked the Q class yet? 

[Ghambit]

Has anyone unlocked the Q class yet? 

That would require a Sandbox.  Good luck getting Cryptic to do that.

[Shatter]

Oh my god. I'd forgotten about those guys. 'Geordi make things go!' Now all we need are the Binars. It would be like controlling those little packs of furry things on Allods.

Has anyone unlocked the Q class yet? 

Soon to be in the C-Store for $2000. 

[Stormwaltz]

/change gravitational constant of the universe

[Minvaren]

It's deja vu all over again for Cryptic with regards to console ports.

[Tannhauser]

Well that sucks, I'd like STO on the 360.  Why can't MMO's make it on consoles?  Yes I know about FFXI.

[Sir T]

People can't cheat as much on a console 

[Valmorian]

Why can't MMO's make it on consoles?

I can think of a few reasons:
1. Console user base might be projected to be more resistant to a monthly fee.
2. Social aspects suffer with the lack of a keyboard to quickly send messages to other players.
3. The combination of frequent software updates changing large amounts of the core data means that installing the full game might be necessary and there are still a lot of "Arcade" 360s out there..

[Lantyssa]

4. Unable to pass the certification test.

[UnSub]

Why can't MMO's make it on consoles? 

A console MMO is pretty much an unknown property. I think one would be massively successful, but MS is likely just as happy to not bother with the issues of QA'ing every patch and just sell single- and multi-player titles that don't need sub fees.

[Stormwaltz]

According to some rumors...

5. Unable to come to terms with the console manufacturers, who think you should run the service through their existing, proprietary online services, and you should use their certification process for every patch, and since they're doing all that hard work for you, they should keep most of the sub fees.

[UnSub]

I was thinking about that yesterday - how much MS would want in royalties fro
a MMO. Do they collect royalties off of DLC releases, or is it built into the MS Live coin system?

Also, does anyone know about how a $15 sub fee gets split? I've heard that out of every $15 , $1 is lost to fraud coverage $6 or so is infrastructure and development costs, $4 is customer service and the remainder is profit. Depends on the title of course, but I'm interested if there would even be any room for $1 off to the console platform owner.

[Muzadi]

I was thinking about that yesterday - how much MS would want in royalties fro
a MMO. Do they collect royalties off of DLC releases, or is it built into the MS Live coin system?

Also, does anyone know about how a $15 sub fee gets split? I've heard that out of every $15 , $1 is lost to fraud coverage $6 or so is infrastructure and development costs, $4 is customer service and the remainder is profit. Depends on the title of course, but I'm interested if there would even be any room for $1 off to the console platform owner.

Microsoft requires about 30% of the sub fee.  Don't know about Sony.

[Malakili]

According to some rumors...

5. Unable to come to terms with the console manufacturers, who think you should run the service through their existing, proprietary online services, and you should use their certification process for every patch, and since they're doing all that hard work for you, they should keep most of the sub fees.

This is the most likely cause in my opinion, especially given their  comments about "the business end" of things causing problems.

[Grimwell]

Well that sucks, I'd like STO on the 360.  Why can't MMO's make it on consoles?  Yes I know about FFXI.

Most game companies just aren't as up to the task as their talking heads, PR, and marketing tasks would like to tell you they are.

[Typhon]

mmmhmmm, says the guy from the revenue sucking parasitic company that's keeping us down!  VERY CONVENIENT!





(actually I have no interest in playing any current MMO on a console. I do however have an interest in amusing myself during a boring week at work)

Edit: "Hmmm hmmm" fucked up the joke! dammit!

[UnSub]

I was thinking about that yesterday - how much MS would want in royalties fro
a MMO. Do they collect royalties off of DLC releases, or is it built into the MS Live coin system?

Also, does anyone know about how a $15 sub fee gets split? I've heard that out of every $15 , $1 is lost to fraud coverage $6 or so is infrastructure and development costs, $4 is customer service and the remainder is profit. Depends on the title of course, but I'm interested if there would even be any room for $1 off to the console platform owner.

Microsoft requires about 30% of the sub fee.  Don't know about Sony.

So MS would want about $4.50 off a $15 sub, for a total of about $19.50 total sub fee if a studio wanted to make the same margins (or alternatively the developing company would only get $10.50 from every $15 sub)? That would kinda kill console MMOs from a sub price point of view.

[Stormwaltz]

It appears official. On the STO test server, they've added a death penalty, and it's fairly badly designed.

It reduces your combat effectiveness to varying degrees.

You can't avoid it altogether even by playing at the lowest difficulty.

You remove it either by using what testers are calling a "magic potion" (money sink) or you travel back to a starbase (time sink).

Minor – The negative effect of minor injuries is small and only several minor injuries would cause a player to notice a difference in performance

Normal – STO’s default and current setting. If you enjoy STO’s difficulty as is continue to play on the Normal difficulty level.

- Salami_Inferno, Assistant Producer

If you are playing on Normal difficulty, you would only need to carry around minor injury packs(so 2 slots, not 6), since if you have no current injuries you can only get a minor injury at Normal difficulty. Even then, the chance of getting even a minor injury is low.

- Rehpic, Lead Programmer

[Surlyboi]

Yes, let's cater to the three asshats that thought we needed a death penalty rather than ignoring them entirely like any sane company would.

[LK]

Can they have a transporter accident with their money and fold?

[Malakili]

Yes, let's cater to the three asshats that thought we needed a death penalty rather than ignoring them entirely like any sane company would.

Not to mention I have a feeling most of the people who were calling for it have already left the game.  I don't know what they are trying to achieve here.