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Asimo posted:The whole system is designed to be as obtuse as possible and obfuscate the costs as much as possible to people underestimate the buy-in required and get burned by sunk cost fallacy impulse buys. The ironic thing is the obfuscation is what's stopping me from doing a bunch of it. If there was a big 'upgrade' button that took seven thousand dil and a million and a half EC or whatever the actual price is I'd have been much quicker to hammer it than hunting the exchange for all these items and good prices and gently caress knows what, it's all too overwrought to bother with.
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Jan 17, 2015 13:13
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I still maintain that the upgrade system would have been a lot better received and possibly have even made more money if they just cut that bullshit out and made the costs flat, yeah. Even if the mods on quality up were random, being able to see it up front and get it done with a single item and a single click would be so much more accessible. Nobody really thinks twice about dropping 35k dil on some rep item or what have you, after all. Hell, if they wanted to keep the gambling in they could still have accelerators in the R&D packs; having a larger and more visible reduction to the dilithium costs would make the packs a lot more appealing. But PWE is absolutely incompetent and is trying to force a deceptive and abusive mobile game/asian MMO system into it in hopes of getting the gambling addict whales. If you don't know how much something costs, you can wind up spending a lot if you aren't careful; nobody wants to "waste" resources and leave something half-finished for no return. Does it make more money for Cryptic though? I dunno. It's quite possible it does in the short term, but it likely hurts interest in the long run and erodes trust in the game and the developers.
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Jan 17, 2015 13:43
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Acer Pilot posted:eh, give them a break. they're going to be losing their jobs soon enough. Ahem, excuse me but haven't you seen all those pubbie signature blocks? Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and all the players love it! The fact 90% of all the queues are stone cold dead is wholly irrelevant because [mumbles under breath]. Irrefutable!
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Jan 17, 2015 14:10
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DancingShade posted:Ahem, excuse me but haven't you seen all those pubbie signature blocks? Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and all the players love it! Excuse me, but they aren't dead. According to Smirk, there was simply a bug making them appear dead. I received a week ban for pointing out the absurdity of this. Additionally, Smirk appeared on one of those idiotic STO radio shows and noted that he personally logged on to check the queues and they all popped for him within 2-3 minutes. Even mine trap!
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Jan 17, 2015 14:43
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He must've run them in a gal-x.
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Jan 17, 2015 15:28
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DonDoodles posted:Excuse me, but they aren't dead. According to Smirk, there was simply a bug making them appear dead. I received a week ban for pointing out the absurdity of this. Well that sounds like a challenge . I'm sure Smirk was very scientific about his approach and in no way is just towing a company line he doesn't actually work for (meaning they actually get paid, does he get paid actually?). Welp boys and girls since we are goons I know 3 things 1) we like proving people wrong in a public mannor 2) most of us can read a clock accuratly 3) its not like we have anything better to do (this is STO). Knowing this I challenge everyone to at least once join q's and time it. We will compile average times to pop. Not sure if we want to start the challenge in the game forums and get some pubbies to help or we just take our findings to the forums when we are complete. My vote is for the second, and if need be when we take this to the forum we start a second study with pubbie numbers. We should be as accurate as possible on recording the time but if your not paying attention while doing it just round the time down to the nearest min. Format: Q's name : space/ground : normal/advanced/elite :time to pop :
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Jan 17, 2015 15:30
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AcidCouch posted:Format: I'll get on this evening to test some queues out, but someone else will have to make the thread as I still have 10 days left on my ban.
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Jan 17, 2015 17:44
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I'd say we should record them too. A youtube channel of time lapse recordings of waiting for queues to pop would be pretty damning. Granted, I don't have a free petabyte of hard drive space it would take to hold the raw video waiting for even one queue, so it'll have to be someone else.
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Jan 17, 2015 18:19
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DonDoodles posted:Excuse me, but they aren't dead. According to Smirk, there was simply a bug making them appear dead. I received a week ban for pointing out the absurdity of this.
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Jan 17, 2015 20:18
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Tuvok, NO!
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Jan 17, 2015 20:28
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GM team confirmed bronies, game dead
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Jan 17, 2015 20:40
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Preechr posted:GM team confirmed bronies, game dead horse poo poo
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Jan 17, 2015 21:07
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Mondian posted:I'd say we should record them too. A youtube channel of time lapse recordings of waiting for queues to pop would be pretty damning. I like this idea. Plus let's keep the data raw don't average your own so we can be as accurate as possible
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Jan 17, 2015 21:15
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DonDoodles posted:I'll get on this evening to test some queues out, but someone else will have to make the thread as I still have 10 days left on my ban. Sorry double post. But I would love to be the one to post it. Smirk and I have yet to come to a head like Bran Bran and I had in the past. Kinda miss it really.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:23
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Preechr posted:Apparently, some over-eager GM has taken it upon themselves to start screwing with me. First, they deleted all my costumes. Then they badnamed one of my characters. Then they came back in and badnamed some more- all of this without an e-mail, warning, or explanation. It might be time for a support ticket. DonDoodles posted:I am continually getting temp banned by "Q" which, if I am correct, is not attributed to any single CM or Dev, but can be used by smirk or gecko or whomever doesn't want to use their actual account. I think It's time for me to declare STO dead if poo poo like this is happening.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:55
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Well, there has always been an undercurrent of unverifiable goon persecution since the early days.
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Jan 17, 2015 22:15
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Captain Candiru posted:Well, there has always been an undercurrent of unverifiable goon persecution since the early days. Goons are "people" too. Equal protection, if I wanna put on my white robe and go........ Maybe plontis or someone of the like has been put on the goon case like before. Maybe its time to go all Denu on the channel as well. AcidCouch fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 22:21
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g0del posted:Wasn't he the one who asked the forums which queues weren't popping? Thus ensuring that a bunch of people would rush to check the queues, causing them all to work for a few hours. Haha yeah he mentioned that in the same thread where he called the empty queues a "glitch" or something and asked people to tell him which ones weren't popping. Almost no one bought it, but haven't heard of anyone else in the thread receiving punitive action. Smirk's strategy is using the Q account to perform any bans so people don't associate him with the action. He also won't answer your PMs asking for clarification on the ban/warning, and support tickets will be promptly closed without explanation. I don't think you'll engage him like Bran, Acid, because he seems to be trying to distance himself as much as possible from ANYthing that might cast him in a negative light.
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Jan 17, 2015 22:31
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Here's my little contribution of raw data then. During prime time on a weekend (so pretty loving recently) I queued for Big Dig, Starbase Fleet Defense and Mine Trap [Advanced]. All 20 man queues. Not only did they not pop, no additional players joined the queues - at least to my knowledge. It's entirely possible that people got fed up and dropped only for other hopefuls to take their place, in a continual cycle of potential instances not being populated enough to spool up. When I stopped checking the queues I was the only person in any of the ones I listed above. How long did I wait for? Well bearing in mind the average Crystal Catastrophe pops instantly or in seconds, and borg STFs usually pop in a minute or two (up from instantly or seconds as it was before Delta Rising) I decided to give it a solid fifteen minutes - an eternity in STO queue time. Oh - as I write this I'm pretty sure the time wouldn't have made a difference because when the queues fall to 1 out of 20 queued and that doesn't go up, well, you already know that the time you spend watching the counter isn't really going to affect the numbers. As for Smirk? He's probably doing what he can to shield himself from the inevitable purge of unfunded positions within PWE once the financials sink in for STO, hence the "Q" account. I'll explain it through a saying once told to me by a man I much respect "Have your fingers in everything, fingerprints on loving nothing." and I am being as verbatim as my memory allows. If Smirk is being properly careful he'll also have purged the access logs of him using the Q account - not that I think they'd bother checking with the current lack of focus on things other than MMO whale harpooning. TL;DR: Delta Rising is the best expansion and the players love it 
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Jan 17, 2015 23:07
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Asimo posted:But PWE is absolutely incompetent and is trying to force a deceptive and abusive mobile game/asian MMO system into it in hopes of getting the gambling addict whales. Somewhere in the planning stages they seem to have left out that their game, and almost all of it's population just isn't good enough for that. Most nights I can't even be bothered to log in to turn I n contraband, what's the point?
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Jan 17, 2015 23:12
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GoatSeeGuy posted:Somewhere in the planning stages they seem to have left out that their game, and almost all of it's population just isn't good enough for that. Most nights I can't even be bothered to log in to turn I n contraband, what's the point? The only thing driving the desire for better gear, best in slot DoFFs etc was 1) stomping people in PVP and 2) bigger numbers that you honestly didn't need for any of the content. PVP is dead and you can get bigger numbers just by putting specialization points into intel & pilot stuff. So basically the intrinsic motivator for a regular player or impatient MMO whale in STO doesn't exist.
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Jan 17, 2015 23:16
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GoatSeeGuy posted:Somewhere in the planning stages they seem to have left out that their game, and almost all of it's population just isn't good enough for that. Most nights I can't even be bothered to log in to turn I n contraband, what's the point? And it's even more insane, since... DancingShade posted:The only thing driving the desire for better gear, best in slot DoFFs etc was 1) stomping people in PVP and 2) bigger numbers that you honestly didn't need for any of the content.
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Jan 17, 2015 23:34
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AcidCouch posted:Goons are "people" too. Equal protection, if I wanna put on my white robe and go........ I am not a goon. I am actually a spy.
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Jan 18, 2015 07:11
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More leaks, enjoy.
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Jan 18, 2015 08:08
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STO is the only MMO I can think of where things like "balance" "purpose" or "point" are not considerations whatsoever.
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Jan 18, 2015 08:17
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DancingShade posted:The only thing driving the desire for better gear, best in slot DoFFs etc was 1) stomping people in PVP and 2) bigger numbers that you honestly didn't need for any of the content. Except of course they've now driven enemy numbers so high that these big numbers can be considered required, but they don't see that if the people can't get to the 'decent' numbers quickly enough(So they can start the grind in earnest, at which point they may pay to ease it up), they won't pay, they'll just leave. The fact that the Command Specialisation actively has a 'More EXP' node within it(http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/9055533-command-specialization: note 'Extrovert') is a VERY BAD sign.
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Jan 18, 2015 10:48
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So because I've always wanted one, I bought a galor (Only 200m at the moment) and got additional spiral wave disruptors. Since This is on a non-rom fed, is this thing still serviceable for anything? The Wesley guides seem slightly out of date.
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Jan 18, 2015 22:41
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It's not quite as top-tier as it used to be, but the Galor is still a really good cruiser. It's fast, nimble, has a crazy high shield modifier, and a really good bridge officer layout. Unless you absolutely have to use intel(/command/etc) powers it's perfectly fine. Also it's the only flyable Cardassian ship, so is the only logical choice. Good luck getting the pissbeams to MkXIV gold. 
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Jan 18, 2015 22:54
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Asimo posted:It's not quite as top-tier as it used to be, but the Galor is still a really good cruiser. It's fast, nimble, has a crazy high shield modifier, and a really good bridge officer layout. Unless you absolutely have to use intel(/command/etc) powers it's perfectly fine. Also it's the only flyable Cardassian ship, so is the only logical choice. At least pissbeams have a guaranteed upgrade path instead of completely random.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:09
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Guaranteed and a really nice one, but they do cost a loving fortune.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:14
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Is it a good upgrade path? I mean, Acc/Acc/Dam/Dam isn't exactly a good spread to begin with.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:24
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Well they basically have two "free" mods to start... the phaser proc and a damage mod, so effectively five mods versus the usual very rare weapon's three. Then they get CrtX (another double mod; crth+crtd) at UR and... I don't remember at gold. Another double mod though (Ac/Dm?) CrtD AP is king these days sure, but they're still really drat good. Main problem is they're considered to be unique/rep items so they cost 50% more than any normal weapon to rank up, on top of the 45k dil surcharge to buy the remaining beams in the first place. And they start at MkXII so you can do the massive savings of crafting MkII weapons, dropping an experimental upgrade and an accelerator, and hopefully getting an UR or epic by MkVII.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:37
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kafziel posted:Is it a good upgrade path? I mean, Acc/Acc/Dam/Dam isn't exactly a good spread to begin with. Acc x 2 dam x 2 critx ac/dm. They become effectively acc x 3 dam x 3 crith critd.
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Jan 18, 2015 23:39
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Isn't the crtx on the spiral waves half power though? 1% crth 10%crtd. Even if that's the case they're still fantastic.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:00
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So what you guys are saying is now is not the best time to try this game.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:14
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As long as you're smart enough to avoid F2P money skimming gambling mechanics it's still more than playable really. There's a whole loving lot of those these days, though.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:18
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mango sentinel posted:So what you guys are saying is now is not the best time to try this game. The gist seems to be that yes, but also, there will probably never again be a better time.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:23
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If you like Star Trek and not spending money there's a good solid week or so of storyline to go through and playing dress up. The kind of joke with the ridiculous money sinks that have been imposed upon the game in the past six months is that for the most part you can do okay just flying free ships and using mission reward gear.
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Jan 19, 2015 00:28
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The real fun of STO is when you are flying your Miranda or Excalibur and life is shiny and new and you're just blasting fools. That, and going into Quarks and busting out smoke and disco and having people blow their loving stack at you for interrupting their poorly-spelled public roleplaying of *smirk* *flirt* *smirks* and poo poo.
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Jan 19, 2015 01:59
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Dely Apple posted:The real fun of STO is when you are flying your Miranda or Excalibur and life is shiny and new and you're just blasting fools. It's amazing how many people -- even with the nullifier in place -- continue to bitch and moan about the disco balls.
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Jan 19, 2015 05:21
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