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Broken Promises
Cacaphony
Member Posts: 738
This thread was created in the official STO forums, and the person who created it is a long time member of the forums, and is well respected amongst the STO community. His words and his concerns hit the nail on the head in my opinion.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=158260
Your thoughts on this?
Comments
I loved the thread because it eludes to something I just posted about cryptic this morning they remind me so much of Enron it isn't funny, I get the sense from Cryptic that in the board room between the top three or four guys they know already that this game will never be what Trekkies want nor will it ever be what mmo players and most gamers as an extension would want but as long as they just don't admit it they can keep on fleecing someone.
Now I'm sure someone will come on and take offense to my comparison since Enron cost many there savings but I obviously don't mean in end result just in methodology. Cryptic is a horribly clueless company who I think doesn't employ even one person who is really enthusiastic or passionate about gaming and if they have enthusiasm and passion they sure are lacking in ideas. Even if we count COH as one of Cryptics games they should really be ashamed of the lack of diversity between the three games they made, do they really think that gamers really want to over a ten year period play the exact same game reskinned multiple times?
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Aye... there is only so many times you can recycle something before it becomes so brittle and falls apart. Though, im hoping that in a ten year period (from now to 10 years from now... or sooner) ... there wont be a cryptic studios. Thats just how I feel at the moment.
Its a bit scary how a whole bunch of the former diehard fans have turned around completely and now constantly criticize the game, though it is kinda understandable.
If the July patch/"expansion" fails, they'll have a shitstorm of insane proportions on their hands.
Yeah if/when the next miracle patch AKA Season 2 flops, this will make the various marketing fiascos look tame. There are already CDF trying to prep people for this by excusing the delay of the next c-store race because apparently the guy most responsible for it had to train a new dev or some such nonsense.
Well, I for one do not count C-Store items as content. What I call content is missions, individual and group content, not a few half baked things that are supposed to be raids that takes hours for you to find a group to do them and then you have to have Vent or you are out of luck. I do not consider nerfing as content and I do not consider this game as a finished product.
Great find and post, I love how some Nimrod on page 2 is defending Cryptic.
OH people asked for it, so cryptic is doing it, look, look!!! it's in the "C-store".
What a poon!!!
I agree, it ain't game content if you have to pay extra for it bub.
This game needs to die already, and anyone who buys anything from Cryptic in the future deserves the over priced, half-arsed, attempt of a game that they get stuck with.
Is it just me that wants to shake them all and tell them that Cryptic are trying to milk them for money as one would mik a cow, so that they can get rich at the expense of others?
And since they can't sell lifers any more in subs, we introduce the C-Store. Broken promises and shattered dreams.
Most Star Trek fans have felt like that since the late nineties, the treatment of the franchise as a limitless cash cow is what made me trade in my rubber Spock ears and give up being a trekkie.
Ultimately nothing we say or do will shake them out of their misguided faith in Cryptic, we can only hope that sooner rather than later STO is allowed to die and that at some point in the future a company that cares about delivering a quality product and service gets to develop a Star Trek MMO.
Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-pope.
Nerfing and screwing around with game mechanics is a great way to prompt people to buy respecs from your cash shop.
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
Coderanger is on a SERIOUS excuse making tour in that thread. My favorite is:
"I think you don't understand how easy it is to have an idea and how hard it is to put it in the game..."
Someone should check their job description. This attitute is why Cryptic will forever be a second rate (maybe third) developing house.
Stay away from the difficult tasks Coderanger and leave that for the big-boy devolopment houses. We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself or heaven forbid put some quality and passion in your product.
They can make up all the excuses they need/want... but the point remains that they could have put in many of these hard to impliment ideas and whatever, had the game been in development for longer than a second rate console game.
Its hard to do it under pressure... with the STO player base and other people elsewhere watching your every move, and breathing down your neck... is what he should have said. But that problem would never have been so big had they done sufficient development before release.
Again... this is proof that cryptics develop a game for 18 months then release buisness model will bite them in the ass... every time. Coderanger will probably have to seek therapy when hes eventually let go or decides to walk out the door from the fiasco that is crytpic.
"I think you don't understand" whatever is not the right way to go about communicating with paying customers if you want them to remain paying customers.
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
Concerning their comments about how hard things are to implement; they used to say that about a lot of things people were asking for in CoH. Funny thing is that as soon as Cryptic sold CoH/CoV to NCsoft, you started seeing those items being implemented. I don't think it's so much a lack of talent among the rank and file Cryptic employees, as it is some kind of failure on the part of Cryptic's executive team.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
I think it's quite simple really.
It's easier and cheaper to do as little as possible. They are making money (I assume) just getting by, so why bother? It's not like making quality games is a concern with them.
Im sure having ideas and implementing them is hard. So they can just leave that to the better companies Like SE, Bioware, CCP etc..
It's also odd how all the elements that won't increase revenue when implented are somehow so, so hard for the poor development team to add, yet all the C-Store stuff offers no hindrance whatsoever to the development team.
Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-pope.
I think my favorite quote is from GM_Destra, "The more positive feedback we receive about the information we are releasing, the more information we can release."
I have to ask, did I read that wrong? Cuz to me, what that is saying is that, the more you kiss our ass, the more treats we'll give you.... Negative post and comments will make us not tell you anything.. You have to love how Cryptic talks to their customer base..
It would seem that we have to offer nothing but a "thank you cryptic can I have another",type statement in order for our feedback to be considered worthy of a devs attention. Speaking of feedback, I thought it was the STO councils job of reading and gathering other opinions and points of view at other STO discussion sources other than the STO main forums.... like here for example. Yet I have seen no poll, nothing to indicate that the council even exists. I see... they must be content in their little corners where its safe... where people come to them and beg for them to hear their view, instead of doing their job and finding where other players/former players, or anyone that has an opinion that chooses to speak up about it, happens to be posting. I guess we have stroke the ego of a podcaster or two before we warrant a viable opinion worth of attention. But I digress.
Anything negative or anything which contains a serious tone (and with that tone, possibly a hint of ctitisism?) and offers real discussion about what someone would like to see changed or added is dismised as trolling, flaming, or just plain foolishness to the devs and ths STO community. Its dismissed, the thread locked at some point, and most likley the author of the "hatemonger" thread banned. Perhaps there would be far fewer types of the threads the devs dislike to see if the company... cryptic.... had deciced to respect and use the 40 years of built up lore and story, the 40 years of character development that has already been done for them... rather than saying they all got pissed off and left starfleet for one reason or another, and give the game an engine which was made for another game. Oh... at least 4 years of dev time would have probably made a difference to....
The Star Trek fanbase is still massive, what do you expect after the franchise chugging along for 40 years? I dont think Cryptic really had any idea of what they were getting into, nor the personell in which to tackle such an undertaking which is Star Trek....which is a shame. Cause this implies they either didnt know enough about the IP they were happily taking advantage of to make a fast buck (even though they claimed they did... but of course they will claim they will) , or they just didnt care... and decided to do it anyway. Either case is a bad one.
During the beta process, and even the time leading up to it, there were plenty of folks telling Cryptic what was wrong with the game. Many of which turned out to be the very same things people have been complaining about since launch. And then they wonder why so many respond in a hostile fashion, accusing of them of simply going for the money grab on the backs of a popular IP.
I followed the game since Cryptic got the IP. I beta tested the game and found nothing that hooked me, saying this was going to be an incredible game. It was my first foray into seriously considering buying into a Cryptic game. It most likely will be my last for quite some time until there are serious upper management changes and/or they split or get sold off by Atari.
Written 30 years ago as a slam against commercialized radio and the music industry, the words seem somehow very fitting in describing Cryptic and their handling of this beloved IP.
"But glittering prizes and endless compromises, shatter the illusion of integrity."
If this game is still around this time next year as a subscription based game still, and not gone the route of DDO with the f2p model with reliance on the C-Store, I'll be VERY surprised.
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=2677201#post2677201
pretty much sums it up. How we got from star trek to STO is beyond me.
I think they knew, they just didn't care. Hopefully after people see two subpar MMOs released 7 months apart, the blatant cash grabs, and general disdain for their customers, people will avoid their next MMO like the plague.
On another note, LOL @ the devs making excuses. Cryptic's new motto:
/Barbie voice on
Coding is hard!!!
/Barbie voice off.
I've actually asked for Coderanger's supervisor to come to the forums because his attitude isn't really appropriate for dealing with customers:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=2685391&postcount=265
Wonder what results that will net
RELAX!@!! BREATHE!!!
Other than a GM sanctioned fanbot assault on you? I'd imagine not much else before it is deleted/locked.
It's frightening to see that anyone would as much as hint on paid items being considered as content.
Sinister Savant MMORPG Community
When Cryptic sold CoH/CoV to NCsoft all the CoH devs transferred to NCsoft as well.Only Statesman (Jack Emmert) left the project.
Hence as soon as he bailed and Positron became leader tons of stuff that States said was impossible,etc suddenly was implemented or advertised as coming soon.
I am sooo glad Cryptic did beta tests of STO and CO because that enabled me to dodge the bullet twice in regard to lifetime subs
The thing with Statesman is that he tries to make games that HE will enjoy and find fun not for other people to enjoy.Bill Roper is the icing on the cake for Cryptic with his lack of vision in regard to anything to do with MMO's.
I just bought the LOTR lifetime sub for £75 and I bet that I got a better bargain than if I went lifetime on either STO or CO
Cryptic are becoming the company that cried wolf a little too often and it will come back to bite them on their posterior.
Gaming since 1985 and still going strong.