Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Different Approach to make money for PWE/CS
ShadowMajere
Member UncommonPosts: 20
I posted this on there forum a little while ago.
I understand the Lock boxes are a way of bringing NON FACTION ships into the game, What I do not understand is the way you are doing it. You started the test phase with the cardi boxes, Then the Ferengi. You were doing things right in the beginning by making tho prolly by glitch the GOLD boxes Tradeable. Locking this down I believe was a FAILED idea. The people who DID NOT want the gold boxes Were able to SELL it for EC to the people who DID WANT the Box. People are more willing to Spend EC on anothers GOLD BOX as well as Hard Earned CASH on Cryptic points for a MASTER KEY. I think with the GOLD BOX tradeable or taking the commonly dropped lock boxes out of the Dilithium mall and adding in the GOLD box instead you would make a more steady sale of the boxes. I remember someone previously said the REgular lock boxes were added and had the same drop rate as other items in the random drop Generator, I am not new to MMO's sir. If the lock boxes are truley added with a regular number to that generator and being UNCOMMON quality at that to, They should NOT be dropping more then COMMON quality Items. Now I have no problems Pushing Money into Keys, But if you want my money do it in an intelligent manner. I understand you need Resources coming in to support servers and programmer costs. But Most players in the SCI-FI genre are smarter then your typical Fantasy player groups. Alot of us are NOT casual gamers. But if the Developers treat us right, We are Very Loyal to the company. Offer us reasons to give us your money and we will. Get rid of the common boxes and just have the Gold boxes at a higher drop rate and make them Tradeable. This will remove the constant complaints of the box spam, while appeasing people wanting the gold boxes to open. If players know of a better box out there, There is more of a chance they will grind for that better box. Ditch the Mystery package also OR make the mystery package have the ability to Drop a GOLD box of any Current or PAST box offered. Make it a rare drop, not offered at the end of every mission or STF. If I get a Mystery box and opened it and say it popped me the opportunity of the past Jem hadar Attack ship, or galor, or in the future whatever. Theres more of a chance if I dont have that ship that I am gonna go and buy a Key to open it.
Another idea is a Total REVAMP of the GOLD and Lifetime Subsciptions. Give Gold members and life time members a hug of love. Lifetimers have taken the step of Complete Faith in your game, They dropped a huge amount of cash with the belief you were going to make something they were going to love to play for a LONG, LONG time. Reward them for that faith. Sure the ideas of never having to pay a sub is nice, The idea of the occasional dorky Veteran reward is nice, But Give them perks that Silver and gold don't have, I am NOT saying give them PAY TO WIN items. But Give them access to say Customizations for them, Make the Captains Table worth visiting. Hell LIFT the Dilithium Refinement Rate on them. I am sure as hell positive that IF lifetime subs had no refinement rate, people would be buying it. Double the rate of refinement for GOLD members. Again, The idea is to push the promise of a continious Flow of money. You will STILL get people buying CP, Even lifetime and golds. IF we see something worth getting, Trust me, We will do what it takes to get it. Fleet Starbases are coming out, Give a nod to the subs and give them some customization options for them Only, Kind of like how we have the Special com badges and titles. Give the PLAYER base a reason to buy the Sub, If there is a Reason, YOU WILL MAKE MONEY.
Talking About Subscriptions.. Cryptic Points... Use them for SUBS.. Eve Online has the ability for Players to spend ISK on PLEX.. Well guys,, People can grind Dilithium for CP.. Why not let them Grind that CP there earning into a GOLD SUB. Make it a Special Sub that doesnt Drop you 400 CP a month. But Gives the other benefits. Maybe 1500 CP a month Grants you Gold Status perks. Well maybe not 1500 since 1500 CPs = $18.75, maybee 1200-1250 CP, whatever. See what I am saying tho, You offer a reason for people to go CP crazy they will do it. We will buy CP and sell it for Dilithium, they will buy the CP ect. You have an influx in money consistantly happening by players.
The Lobi store is a nice idea, The Lobi Crystal Is not. It is Known that the Ferengi are constantly asking for Latinum, You should of Given the node to the Existing Latinum System, Add GPL to the Lock boxes instead of LOBI, Make GPL HARDER to get, or make the Stores items higher in prices to move with there Rarity. I understand the LOBI is supposed to be a Cash based currency, You ALREADY had that, It was Called the CRYPTIC POINT. Right now you have ENERGY CREDITS, DILITHIUM, CRYPTIC POINTS, and now LOBI CRYSTALS. Four currencies? Really? C'mon now, Little Rediculous guys. Work with the existing Systems that you have.
What it comes down to is, We have no problems Giving PWE/Cryptic Money, Just give us intelligent ways to do it and we will. Do not make it Pay to Win, you really havent so far everything is in reach of the player. But why should people Pay for gold OR lifetime, When for example *I will get flamed for this* You start your new character, Find out from a friend to Quick drop 15$ on it you get like 175-180$ worth of Upgrades to ALL your characters ( 1 fed, 1 kdf, 1 universal) Just buy it for the month, Grind the month and build your 3 characters and POOF you have a tricked out upgraded account, and Cancel the sub, 15$ no reason to continue the Sub. Thats poor business right there. Now I am not saying Strip the people of there Perks they earned. But think about it, 15$ gets you 175+ Worth of upgrades AND they STAY! The player unless he buys more character slots, Has no reason to drop Any more $$ on the game unless he sees a ship he wants. I know you guys are stuck trying to figure the subs out between the fairness of Silver (F2P model) and Gold/Lifetime But you need to do something to Keep your sub worth keeping. Lock Boxes are not the right way, niether is the Lobi market. Give a real reason to keep an Influx of money, One that does not revolve around quick sales, but more long term and STABLE money. What is going to happen when you run out of non IP ships to make to offer... What are you going to put into lock boxes then. I am pretty sure you will run out of ideas quick or the novelty of the boxes will wear thin quick, For the majority it already has. It's like an 800# constantly dialing you to buy something. It's just aggravated harrassment. Those Rare ships should be just that RARE. Instead of doing Set runs with the Race specific Gold boxes, add them to the random generator and set them at a very Very Rare drop rate. Slowly introduce them into the game. Sure seed them in the beginning, But then drop the rates so that someone will get excited to want to buy it. OMG I just got a cardi Gold box... These things are Crazy Rare.. they will either put it on Exchange, OR they themselves will open it, regardless A key is getting bought....
Just my Two... Very very long cents..
Comments
Long post that rambles and really boils down to ; I like the game , I'm disappointed with how LTS are structured and treated, and I shouldn't have to spend money. Two words : Caveat Emptor Sorry you spent the money on a LTS, but consider it a lesson learned.
I understand it completely. It is a much easier and faster cash grab than investing the time and effort into creating new factions for the game so you could actually play a Ferengi Trader or Uridian or whatever.
Well the biggest problem with them creating factions is the IP holder... CBS.. Everything they do.. has to be cleared by them, Currently on the board is Romulan, after that Cardassians are slated. I mean you can make ferengi's You just dont fully have access to there ships as if they were a faction. But its only 2 years old.. Look how long Eve Online took to get where it is. There just limited by the current Engine they use.. Until they roll the new one there creating out.
CBS has nothing to do with it for the most part . Yes , sometimes they have to approve certain things . They're not as hands on as Cryptic would have you believe , it's a smokescreen for their own ineptitude and sloth. If it appeared in the movies or shows , then CBS needs to approve it , otherwise they have full liberty . Anything that Cryptic/playerbase ( UCG ) creates does fall under CBS's domain though.
As for another faction , that's a pipe dream. Cryptic can't even make an MMO , muchless a 2 faction MMO. Look back at their other games, it's not in their design philosophy or ability. You want to pile on more ? Seriously ! When's the last time Klingon faction content was mentioned and how much has appeared ? The game is moving toward a single faction game with war games for pvp. It started with STF's and moving to pvp.
Eve is making money , Cryptic is treading water , huge difference. Eve tries to please it's playerbase, while providing a worth while experience. Cryptic panders to the playerbase while digging in to the pockets as deep as it can , lying , promising while underdelivering , all while making vague statements how they intend to improve the game. There's an old saying you can dazzle them with brillance , or baffle them with bullshit. Guess which one Cryptic chose ?
/yawn
It's Atari's fault!!
It's PWE's fault!!
It's CBS's fault!!
When is anything ever Cryptic's fault?