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Are recent developments in Star Trek Online a sign of things to come?
Cwoodblue
Member Posts: 2
Firstly hello, this is my first post on here after lurking around for years.So why the sudden need to post? Well, its really about recent events over at Star Trek Online.
If you dont already know, it has been announced that STO, still less than a month out, is getting a $10 price reduction and shipping with 60 days extra game time.Good news if you want to try it out I guess.A big punch in the face to the many who have been there from day one, and put up with 'Lots' of downtime and problems since launch.Obviously the official forums have erupted over this, with longtime community members recieving bans etc..Can STO recover from this without a serious marketing ploy?
So is this a sign of things to come in the world of MMO,s? (Although if STO really is an MMO is another topic altogether) Much has been made of Atari policy to churn out games quickly, make as much money out of them with various offers and micro transactions and then move on to the next project.I dont really know much about this, if it is true or not, so does anyone care to add anything? Could this type of thing become an industry standard? Will gamers take it?
Comments
I just think that Cryptic doesnt know what MMO gamers want, i find that they put this content out in there games, without realizing what will we really think. Maybe in a game we'll say we want a new dungeon! (not refering to STO just mmos in general) and they just put a dungeon out, then we say, no, thats not what we ment by dungeon, from what Ive seen, Cryptic does actually reply to our demands in CO and STO, but the stuff they put out is never what we really want.
MMOs played: Too many
Watch List: FFXIV, CoH:GR, GW2, SWTOR, TERA, Earthrise
I was really disappointed with STO. So much so that I cancelled my pre-order and then tried Darkfall Online.
Since I cancelled STO I have checked back on the forums because I do like a good train wreck once in a while. It seems that even the most loyal customers are now turning on the game. Pretty sad.
Ohh well, I have darkfall to fill that void now
They needed a lot more Forced grouping in my opinion, and to make transitioning from system to sector space and stuff more fluid, the instancing part does not make it not an mmo or anything, tis not that bad, they just didnt handle it good, and of course the content, also, give us pvp that does something that makes us care, theres no motive to pvp so after pvping for a day or 2, u realize, wat am I doing?
MMOs played: Too many
Watch List: FFXIV, CoH:GR, GW2, SWTOR, TERA, Earthrise
I bought DDO when it first came out, it cost me £29, it's now F2P and costs buggah all for the client, I'd call that a bigger slap in the face if I was to not realise that it's more important to get new players in rather than just sit back and watch numbers either stagnate or dwindle, it happens in every product available from games to car insurance to food products to tickets to see your favourite sport.
Is STO doing badly or something? To suddenly not only drop the price but also put in an extra months sub seems a little desperate. Or perhaps Cryptari just want to shift a few more boxes to squeeze the last little bit of cash out?
As I posted on STO forum - the price reduction is a marketing move albeit a little quick is done by other MMOs all the time.
The problem with STO is purely subjective as the player making those observations.
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Um, this is Cryptic. Who could possibly have expected better?
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Its a marketing move for sure, but I'd say it is a very bad one.To do it this soon shows either panic or a real disregard for anyone who has supported the game until this point.Add the other problems the game may or may not have and you have a train wreck.
The influx of new players, with longer play times, may help keeps things flowing until new things happen but I dont think the community will ever really recover from this unless something happens now to counter it.
I bought DDO when it first came out, it cost me £29, it's now F2P and costs buggah all for the client, I'd call that a bigger slap in the face if I was to not realise that it's more important to get new players in rather than just sit back and watch numbers either stagnate or dwindle, it happens in every product available from games to car insurance to food products to tickets to see your favourite sport.
At least DDO was out for a few years before they did that. STO has been out for less than a month.
It already started, STO is another cash grab project with mediocre gameplay.
Don't any of you pay monthly for Satelite/Cable/Internet/insurance/food/Gas/Electric etc etc etc????????
My god ppl are getting shafted day in day out for everyday things becuase they are already customers, new customers however get all the incentives like cheaper monthly installments, free upgrades etc etc.
Cryptic haven't suddenly invented the wheel here, it's an age old practice of screw over your customers to get new customers in and paying, for heavens sake wake up and smell the coffee, it's not bloody new and it certainly isn't a shock.
However I'l take it all back if your under the age of 16 and haven't yet started playing the game of real life with all it's associated bills.
Maybe STO is an experience that might appear a bit humbling to Cryptic (I hope) and maybe they would consider re-prioritizing what's important on their current and future projects. It appears for the past year they have been quite a topic for many questionable things and you would figure Cryptic would of been following it all and reacted accordingly. Maybe some companies are slower than others, should we give them the benefit of the doubt?
STO has been a huge success for Cryptic. They have probibly already reduced the dev team to 2 people and closed the door. Their development room now has a new project they are working on.
OK, for those who have been asleep at the wheel for a while. Cryptic gets a large bonus if the subscription numbers are above a certain amount. So they are pushing to get the bonus. No surprise here. I would do the same thing and so would you.
No, no, no, no, no. That's a totally stupid idea. Forced grouping is the most dire of last resorts, and involves no more than making the existing stale, boring quests just 200% more difficult to do. This does not make the game more interesting or more fun to play.
Making people WANT to group = good business.
FORCING people to group = bad business.
IF they want such a instanced game, they should have done what WOW has done with the dungeon finder.
While I can't wholly disagree with you, I think you're overlooking the principle of it all.
The reason why people are so upset is because this is happening so soon. The game is barely a month old now (just over three weeks when this was announced), and Atari's already offering it cheaper and slapping on a free "extra 60 days" of playtime on top of that; which if I understood correctly, will come out to a total of 3 months of free access to STO. To early-on adopters of the game, this comes off as downright insulting, especially since I believe this sort of offer (all circumstances considered) is a first as far as MMOs are concerned.
To a lot of these players, having this come up after they dealt with all of the server issues, among other things, during the first week or two post-release is a slap in the face. And in my view, Atari/Cryptic seem to be in desperate need of cash, so I can see how this move can look distasteful to those who emptied their pockets for them during launch.
This whole thing reeks of a desperate money-grab because it's as if they're trying to move a few more boxes so they have a figure to tout around other than "1 Million Registered Accounts for STO (and CO) Forums". And again, the timing of it all does not bode well for the game. Sure, it's not like all retailers are doing this, but then again, it is the publisher itself who's offering the deal which is telling of the game's situation. Price cuts only four weeks after release may happen, but adding 60 free days on top of the 30 you get already? How much more appealing can a deal for an MMORPG get?
Having said all that, combined with the fact that Atari seems to gladly risk reputation in order maximize profits, surely STO couldn't selling like hotcakes....
Plus if you call your internet/cable/phone company and bitch (and are a good customer) you too will get the deal (even though it says new subs only)- Just went through this and a am typing this to you with my cheaper (and yet same speed) internet.
At least that seems THE dominating feature of it. Cryptic did put as much creativity into money making as into nothing else! So I hope its not the future, and IMO it will fall flat. People will leave these games very fast, devs get negative reputation (see SOE) and thats something very tough to make new customers. So I hope it will be a short time experiment.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
The funniest thing is all those people who bought lifetime subs for a game that will be F2P before the end of the year.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
No, no, no, no, no. That's a totally stupid idea. Forced grouping is the most dire of last resorts, and involves no more than making the existing stale, boring quests just 200% more difficult to do. This does not make the game more interesting or more fun to play.
Making people WANT to group = good business.
FORCING people to group = bad business.
I want a fun game. I'm not a developer so I don't care about business. Why should I?
It would be good for business to allow a high amount of rat turds in hot dogs because it would lower costs to the manufacturer.
I don't want rat turds in my hot dogs, because I want a good hot dog. I don't care about the hot dog business.
No, no, no, no, no. That's a totally stupid idea. Forced grouping is the most dire of last resorts, and involves no more than making the existing stale, boring quests just 200% more difficult to do. This does not make the game more interesting or more fun to play.
Making people WANT to group = good business.
FORCING people to group = bad business.
I want a fun game. I'm not a developer so I don't care about business. Why should I?
It would be good for business to allow a high amount of rat turds in hot dogs because it would lower costs to the manufacturer.
I don't want rat turds in my hot dogs, because I want a good hot dog. I don't care about the hot dog business.
No business. No hot dog. You get nothing. It is that simple.
I really hope not. I don't know if people are trying to take a bold step or tumble down the stairs these days. With each MMORPG it's a guess who falls and who doesn't. I just hope when the next person falls, they don't bring everyone else down with them!
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!
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