lockwoodx
08-27-2010, 01:38 PM
STO's Executive Producer Dsthal is facing an angry mob over its most recent release of $DLC from the C-Store that gives players a pvp edge for the low low price of $15 dollars USD.
By page 34, post #340 since yesterday afternoon Cryptic finally decided to respond....
This thread could use a dose of Chillax
So far from this thread I've gathered that...
Plans change. Economies change. MMOs change. People's viewpoints change. Decisions made once can change. Revenues change. Total number of players can change. Emotional responses change.
I suppose things change.
I'd like to think that I'm not beholden to something someone said a year ago about a game that hadn't even launched yet. There are a ton of things I'd like to change in this game. I'd like to see some decisions that were made change. I'd like to change exploration, sector space, ground combat, mission variety, and how episode replay works. I'm thankful that despite how the game was planned and shipped and talked about in interviews, I have the flexibility to change the game.
I'm also very glad that the C-Store exists because it helps the game in two ways. It helps us make one off assets that players want sooner than they would get made if they were on our normal content schedule. (see my previous thread a while back where I go into detail about this).
And as Jack mentioned, it helps us hit our revenue expectations which is what the business world is all about. If the STO team wants to retain all the resources we have to continue creating content into the future, we have to hit a projected budget. If we don't then we lose those resources. Plain and simple. The two ways we generate revenue is through subscriptions and microtransactions. Sure we could put less things in the C-Store, but that means that my revenue goes down, which mean my resources to make the game go down. It is all pretty straight forward when this is presenting in the budget discussions to the team.
So while I recognize that Jack, or Roper, or Craig, or heck maybe even I said things about the C-Store prior to launch... the game industry and economy has changed quite a bit since a year ago and I'm thankful that more things have been added to the store. The money you put into this game has a direct relationship to how much resources I'm allowed to continue developing the game. Not everything we make is a C-Store item. All the new loot we're making, all the new weekly episodes, all the new enemies to fight, the sector space revamp, new minigame... have been going into the game directly. That seems like a win to me.
Wish making MMOs was cost-free and I could hire 3000 designers to work on STO.
That would be awesome. Unfortunately we have to make as much as we spend to keep going. Very capitalistic.
What was said by all those big named people again and again that Crypic is backspinning now was that A: C-Store items would be completely optional/aesthetic so they do not impact game play. B: If something in the C-store was more than purely aesthetic, there would be a way to earn it in game for free.
The $DLC Excelsior ship they released yesterday breaks both those rules. There is still no word from Cryptic if there will be a way to obtain the ship in game for free despite direct questioning.
The ship design is extremely popular. If they had made it a skin, it would have sold like hotcakes. If they had made it a carbon copy of any of the T5 cruisers, but had it look like the excelsior, it'd have sold like hotcakes. It won the popularity poll. It was going to be a money maker no matter what.
But this layout ... this edge in effectiveness ... just makes it so much more lucrative.
It's a C-Store thing. It really is. This ship is going to make a ton of money. It's adding the excelsior's popularity to a gameplay edge. And taking things to brand new heights (or depths depending on your outlook) for the microtransaction model.
Can you imagine the outrage if they nerfed the ship after players bought it for the soul purpose of that pvp edge it grants?
Call it greed, desperation, spite, incompetence.... Cryptic studios is the only thing keeping Atari out of bankruptcy atm but continue to go out of their way to shit on what's left of their loyal customers. At this point new subscribers are not working and they have to resort to milking their lifetime members. What a sad way to ruin one of the best IPs that could have been turned into a good mmorpg.
Update:
I'm still a proponent of having multiple ways to get things in game. I was very vocal internally that if they put an excelsior in the C-Store - there had to be a way to get one in game as well. The Excelsior C-Store unlock was going to come with a T3 and T5 version, and instead the compromise is that the T3 version would be in game for Energy Credits and not require a C-Store transaction.
As far as emblems for the T5, this was overruled because the Excelsior is obtainable at Rear Admiral and you cannot gain emblems until you are VA. This isn't to say things can't change in the future.
Your points aren't going on deaf ears. I'm sure we'll be discussing this internally for days. We just tend to see these same arguments whenever anything goes into the C-Store that people really want. Obviously we will continue to react to player feedback and your concerns over items in the C-Store. We certainly talk enough about it in our meetings.
What he means by emblems is that emblems are the currency to obtain high end items such as entire ships. A player would grind emblems to get what they want, or buy it in the C-store if they wanted it right now. So they throw players a bone by letting them get the overpowered ship at their 3, but by the next tier it's outdated and replaced unless they paid the 15 bucks for the Tier 5 version.
I don't want to call this "spin" but it's definitely some damage control with a twist. Players have been burned far too many times by Cryptic to give him the benefit of the doubt that something is being done so all they can do now is wait and see what is done to make things right, if anything at all.
Update:
When all else fails cryptic does what it does best.
Ok gang, it looks like this thread has veered off topic, and is now more about the c-store, and Cryptic/Atari's business practices than anything else.
Time for this thread to end.
Thanks,
Stormshade
By page 34, post #340 since yesterday afternoon Cryptic finally decided to respond....
This thread could use a dose of Chillax
So far from this thread I've gathered that...
Plans change. Economies change. MMOs change. People's viewpoints change. Decisions made once can change. Revenues change. Total number of players can change. Emotional responses change.
I suppose things change.
I'd like to think that I'm not beholden to something someone said a year ago about a game that hadn't even launched yet. There are a ton of things I'd like to change in this game. I'd like to see some decisions that were made change. I'd like to change exploration, sector space, ground combat, mission variety, and how episode replay works. I'm thankful that despite how the game was planned and shipped and talked about in interviews, I have the flexibility to change the game.
I'm also very glad that the C-Store exists because it helps the game in two ways. It helps us make one off assets that players want sooner than they would get made if they were on our normal content schedule. (see my previous thread a while back where I go into detail about this).
And as Jack mentioned, it helps us hit our revenue expectations which is what the business world is all about. If the STO team wants to retain all the resources we have to continue creating content into the future, we have to hit a projected budget. If we don't then we lose those resources. Plain and simple. The two ways we generate revenue is through subscriptions and microtransactions. Sure we could put less things in the C-Store, but that means that my revenue goes down, which mean my resources to make the game go down. It is all pretty straight forward when this is presenting in the budget discussions to the team.
So while I recognize that Jack, or Roper, or Craig, or heck maybe even I said things about the C-Store prior to launch... the game industry and economy has changed quite a bit since a year ago and I'm thankful that more things have been added to the store. The money you put into this game has a direct relationship to how much resources I'm allowed to continue developing the game. Not everything we make is a C-Store item. All the new loot we're making, all the new weekly episodes, all the new enemies to fight, the sector space revamp, new minigame... have been going into the game directly. That seems like a win to me.
Wish making MMOs was cost-free and I could hire 3000 designers to work on STO.
That would be awesome. Unfortunately we have to make as much as we spend to keep going. Very capitalistic.
What was said by all those big named people again and again that Crypic is backspinning now was that A: C-Store items would be completely optional/aesthetic so they do not impact game play. B: If something in the C-store was more than purely aesthetic, there would be a way to earn it in game for free.
The $DLC Excelsior ship they released yesterday breaks both those rules. There is still no word from Cryptic if there will be a way to obtain the ship in game for free despite direct questioning.
The ship design is extremely popular. If they had made it a skin, it would have sold like hotcakes. If they had made it a carbon copy of any of the T5 cruisers, but had it look like the excelsior, it'd have sold like hotcakes. It won the popularity poll. It was going to be a money maker no matter what.
But this layout ... this edge in effectiveness ... just makes it so much more lucrative.
It's a C-Store thing. It really is. This ship is going to make a ton of money. It's adding the excelsior's popularity to a gameplay edge. And taking things to brand new heights (or depths depending on your outlook) for the microtransaction model.
Can you imagine the outrage if they nerfed the ship after players bought it for the soul purpose of that pvp edge it grants?
Call it greed, desperation, spite, incompetence.... Cryptic studios is the only thing keeping Atari out of bankruptcy atm but continue to go out of their way to shit on what's left of their loyal customers. At this point new subscribers are not working and they have to resort to milking their lifetime members. What a sad way to ruin one of the best IPs that could have been turned into a good mmorpg.
Update:
I'm still a proponent of having multiple ways to get things in game. I was very vocal internally that if they put an excelsior in the C-Store - there had to be a way to get one in game as well. The Excelsior C-Store unlock was going to come with a T3 and T5 version, and instead the compromise is that the T3 version would be in game for Energy Credits and not require a C-Store transaction.
As far as emblems for the T5, this was overruled because the Excelsior is obtainable at Rear Admiral and you cannot gain emblems until you are VA. This isn't to say things can't change in the future.
Your points aren't going on deaf ears. I'm sure we'll be discussing this internally for days. We just tend to see these same arguments whenever anything goes into the C-Store that people really want. Obviously we will continue to react to player feedback and your concerns over items in the C-Store. We certainly talk enough about it in our meetings.
What he means by emblems is that emblems are the currency to obtain high end items such as entire ships. A player would grind emblems to get what they want, or buy it in the C-store if they wanted it right now. So they throw players a bone by letting them get the overpowered ship at their 3, but by the next tier it's outdated and replaced unless they paid the 15 bucks for the Tier 5 version.
I don't want to call this "spin" but it's definitely some damage control with a twist. Players have been burned far too many times by Cryptic to give him the benefit of the doubt that something is being done so all they can do now is wait and see what is done to make things right, if anything at all.
Update:
When all else fails cryptic does what it does best.
Ok gang, it looks like this thread has veered off topic, and is now more about the c-store, and Cryptic/Atari's business practices than anything else.
Time for this thread to end.
Thanks,
Stormshade