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Just hit 50....

So I just hit 50... expecting a new world to open up...

 

Then I ran into a brick wall named ZEN.  

I had found the game enjoyable when I started, and subbed after 20 hours of gameplay. I then played furiously for another 60 hours, and all the while, though cognizant  of the C-Store, I hadn't really looked into it... after all, I was a monthly subscriber, not a F2P leech.   Then,  after hitting 50, I found I had no new ship options other than to purchase Zen.   This and of itself wouldn't be a problem, however after looking into it, the zen prices seem ridiculous to me. 

 

I'll freely admit, I'm new to the F2P genre (having been a player of SWTOR prior to it becoming F2P, then STO.  My issue is that  I see no way to advance for monthly subscribers with a pittance of a stipend of 500 zen.  There is no "generic" vice admiral equivilent ship that I can see.  Are there any comparable ships available through in-game means?   I don't see the harm in paying for convenience or "bling"  but I don't see ships available on the exchange or as rewards as far as I can tell without paying 25 bucks or more a ship.

Am I missing something here?  I've got no issues paying a monthly subscription for a service, but BIG issues paying real money for pixels.

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Comments

  • flizzerflizzer Member RarePosts: 2,454
    Woah, I'm glad I never tried this one out now. Are you saying you are paying a monthly sub and still need to use the cash shop?   But I thought all the pro-sub people told us if you pay a sub, you do not need to use the cash shop.   So much for sub games.
  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53
    Well you get a stipend of 500 zen a month... enough to buy an eyepatch.... or a tier 1 (lvl 1) ship. Or buy 5 keys to the millions of lockboxes that drop. 

    image

  • WhiteLanternWhiteLantern Member RarePosts: 3,306

    Ya, it pretty much sucks that they lock the T5 ships away now. There was the 3rd anniversary ship, but I think the T5 version was time-limited.

    I suppose a gold member could save their stipend for a few months and get a ship. Still sucks though, but I guess that's one way to get monies from the players.

    You can run around in the lower versions and still have a good time. I dust off my Olympic from time-to-time just to ramp up the difficulty.

    I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil

  • Mondo80Mondo80 Member UncommonPosts: 194

    What class are you playing? 

    What type of ship do you prefer?

    Do you like PVE or PVP? 

    Are you In a fleet?

     

    These are important things that you should have figured out during your game play.  Any class can fly any ship, it all depends on you preference.  The Link below might help:

    http://sto.gamepedia.com/Playable_starship

    While the C-store ships are nice you can easily do all endgame content with the ship you got as a Rear Admiral.  Also I think as a gold member you do get a free Vice Admiral ship.

  • exwinexwin Member Posts: 221

    This was my experience with STO as well. I maxed out in about 2 weeks, and game was repetitive and I had no desire to make an alt. I hope that you enjoyed STO, think positive, you payed monthly and not bought the lifetime.

    Nothing left to do but Cancel sub and move on.

  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53

    Yeah I just unsubbed.  Forcing a monthly subscriber to buy zen is stupid.  You're still stuck with a ship you get at level 40 with no upgrades available without some form of RMT at 50, even though you subbed to the game.  Waste of money.  This was my first experience with "Pay to win".

     

    Some games do RMT right however.  I thought galaxies trading cards for convenience items and eve's Plex's were awesome ideas.  These items were available to purchase from other players through in-game cash. 

     

    *edit*

    I had actually considered the lifetime subscriber as it's on sale for 200 bucks.  You'd be better off paying that in zen and playing as you wish for a month... I could see easily burning through 20k zen fitting out a character with the uniforms, ship customizations and convenience items, along with a couple of ships.  Then again, paying 200 bucks for some pixels rubs me the wrong way. 

    image

  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53
    Originally posted by Mondo80

    What class are you playing? 

    What type of ship do you prefer?

    Do you like PVE or PVP? 

    Are you In a fleet?

     

    These are important things that you should have figured out during your game play.  Any class can fly any ship, it all depends on you preference.  The Link below might help:

    http://sto.gamepedia.com/Playable_starship

    While the C-store ships are nice you can easily do all endgame content with the ship you got as a Rear Admiral.  Also I think as a gold member you do get a free Vice Admiral ship.

    Which of those ships listed for a level 50 are available to a monthly subscriber without buying zen?  I'm sitting at the shipyard right now looking through it, and I don't see shit.  Please enlighten me.

    Also, what class/ship and whether I like PVE or PVP are irrelevant if they cost the same amount of RMT to purchase.  The issue here is not what ship,  but "any" ship. 

    As a gold member you do NOT get a free ship at Vice Admiral. 

    image

  • Mondo80Mondo80 Member UncommonPosts: 194

    My bad, I've been subbed for so long I thought it was free:

    600 Days

    • Magnificent Title
    • FREE Vice Admiral Ship Token
    • FREE Full Respec
    • FREE Costume Slots (set of 2)
  • simpliussimplius Member UncommonPosts: 1,134

    Theres also the ship from the temporal ambassador mission

    you can switch to the other classes ships too,,i always put my ENG in a TAC ship

    you can grind dilithium by doing dailies, 8k per day, that would mean a new ship in 4 months

    and once you unlock a CC ship, its available to all characters of that faction

    but  yes, the CC is getting all the best ships, thats a major income for them,

    and thats what paid for the new content

  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53

    You'd think having subscribed would have paid for new content. Apparently they want an additional 25 bucks on top of the subscription fee.  just a P2W tactic.  Sad really.

    It's not as if I'm a free player bitching about RMT... I paid a subscription.  

     

    Thank you for the heads up on an actual mission that awards a ship though.  I had been unaware of that... people ingame aren't exactly helpful.. though there are plenty of discussions on whether or not Data had pimples, ect.  Gets quite heated at times.  

    I'll look up the stats on that ship and might login.  

    Somewhere along the line I missed this fundamental shift in MMO's towards free to play.  I'm not particularly overjoyed with it, and from my experience STO is the worst I've seen for fleecing people of their money... I don't mind vanity or convenience items, but requiring a paid subscriber to do so as the only way to acquire level appropriate gear really strikes me as...wrong. 

    Maybe I'm old fashioned. 

    Or maybe I just miss SWG. 

     

    image

  • DudehogDudehog Member Posts: 112
    This game sounds so bad. lol.
  • evictonevicton Member Posts: 398
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf

    You'd think having subscribed would have paid for new content. Apparently they want an additional 25 bucks on top of the subscription fee.  just a P2W tactic.  Sad really.

    It's not as if I'm a free player bitching about RMT... I paid a subscription.  

     

    Thank you for the heads up on an actual mission that awards a ship though.  I had been unaware of that... people ingame aren't exactly helpful.. though there are plenty of discussions on whether or not Data had pimples, ect.  Gets quite heated at times.  

    I'll look up the stats on that ship and might login.  

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53
    Originally posted by evicton
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf

    You'd think having subscribed would have paid for new content. Apparently they want an additional 25 bucks on top of the subscription fee.  just a P2W tactic.  Sad really.

    It's not as if I'm a free player bitching about RMT... I paid a subscription.  

     

    Thank you for the heads up on an actual mission that awards a ship though.  I had been unaware of that... people ingame aren't exactly helpful.. though there are plenty of discussions on whether or not Data had pimples, ect.  Gets quite heated at times.  

    I'll look up the stats on that ship and might login.  

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

    I agree completely.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have subscribed, and just tossed the 25 bucks into the pot and let it be.  Then again, I'd be looking REAL hard at what I was purchasing.  RMT just rubs me wrong.  I'm really wanting to like this game though, I thought the ground combat and ship combat is outstanding.   Plays just like starfleet command... still got that in the box too.  

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  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf
    Originally posted by evicton

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

    I agree completely.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have subscribed, and just tossed the 25 bucks into the pot and let it be.  Then again, I'd be looking REAL hard at what I was purchasing.  RMT just rubs me wrong.  I'm really wanting to like this game though, I thought the ground combat and ship combat is outstanding.   Plays just like starfleet command... still got that in the box too.  

    It's common in Cryptic's games that sub is not a good choice, I think this was one of the reasons why they skipped sub option entirely in Neverwinter. Both free with occasional Zen purchases or buying a lifer are better options in STO. (if you desperately want the veteran stuff I mean, with lifetime you get all of those). Subbing for a few months is the most expensive way in STO :)

     

    Edit: subbing is the most expensive way ...after the f2p switch ofc.

  • MagnetiaMagnetia Member UncommonPosts: 1,015

    "Oh my god! They are asking me to pay 25-30 dollars for 80 hours+ of gameplay! RIDICULOUS"

    Come on man. Free to play is not a charity.

    Play for fun. Play to win. Play for perfection. Play with friends. Play in another world. Why do you play?

  • fenring101fenring101 Member UncommonPosts: 80
    Originally posted by Magnetia

    "Oh my god! They are asking me to pay 25-30 dollars for 80 hours+ of gameplay! RIDICULOUS"

    Come on man. Free to play is not a charity.

    did you even read his post?

    He isnt complaining about being required to pay. He is complaining that people who pay the sub are required to pay just as much as froobs.

     

    Myself I think it would make more sense for them to give subscribers a Discount at the C-Store and allow you to buy stuff at a hefty discount to encourage it. But then again I dont agree with additional fee's other than xpacs if your a subscriber.

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278

    I bought a LT sub at launch, and it gets some perks, but I also have another account that I subbed to begin with, and then unsubbed and just play it free, as free is not much worse off than being subbed.

    If I do not want to pay money to get ZEN, then I just do some of the missions that gets you Dilithium, and then you can trade it for ZEN.

    There is a choice: 1) Spend many hours grinding to get what you want (which SWG was like going for Jedi pre-NGE - I spent 3-4 hours per evening just grinding on repetitive terminal missions to get enough XP to switch for Jedi XP at the village) or 2) buy ZEN.

  • CacaphonyCacaphony Member Posts: 738


    Originally posted by Magnetia
    "Oh my god! They are asking me to pay 25-30 dollars for 80 hours+ of gameplay! RIDICULOUS"

    Come on man. Free to play is not a charity.


    Like the gentleman (or gentlewoman?) below you said, the OP is not complaining about having to pay for things while not forking over a sub. He is complaining about having to pay while subbed. He is already forking over a sub when he (or her?) does not have to. They could be playing for free.

    How is there no discount in the store for people that pay a sub?

    He pays a sub even when he doesn't have to. Has to pay the same as the f2p people for store items. I think there should be a greater incentive for people that sub, and yet even greater perks for lifetime members.

    I swear, people on this forum are beginning to sound like Dunraven and Terilyn on the Massively comments.

  • lordstarwolflordstarwolf Member Posts: 53
    Originally posted by Magnetia

    "Oh my god! They are asking me to pay 25-30 dollars for 80 hours+ of gameplay! RIDICULOUS"

    Come on man. Free to play is not a charity.

         I really dislike people inflating their post count by one-lining without either having read or understanding what the thread is about.  

         I'm not playing for free.  I have a subscription. I understand what a cash shop is for, but requiring regular subscribers to use it for required gear is ridiculous.  I've already paid my bit toward content, server and bandwidth fees, and I'm not using anything I'm not entitled to.  This isn't a "free rider" problem, it's an issue of a company gaming customers for every dime they can get.   Perhaps if someone reads this thread maybe they won't make the mistakes I've made, and just spend what they'd have paid in subscription fees in the cash shop.  

     

         My personal dislike of cash shops being P2W rather than merely convenience, novelty or "bling", or even gated content  being set aside, the issue still is that subcribed customers in Star Trek Online are no better off than Freebies.   You'd be better off just remaining a silver (free) member and not subscribe at all.  I've no experience with other cryptic games, and I gather this is endemic to cryptic studios.  As one of my first  MMO's I've played with a F2P option, I'm not finding STO very likable at this point. 

     

         Now if an endgame vessel, however boring that it might be, was offered with comparable stats and acquirable ingame without doing the SAME EXACT dilithium grind required for free players was offered to subscribed players, there wouldn't be an issue. 

    image

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,959
    Originally posted by Po_gg
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf
    Originally posted by evicton

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

    I agree completely.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have subscribed, and just tossed the 25 bucks into the pot and let it be.  Then again, I'd be looking REAL hard at what I was purchasing.  RMT just rubs me wrong.  I'm really wanting to like this game though, I thought the ground combat and ship combat is outstanding.   Plays just like starfleet command... still got that in the box too.  

    It's common in Cryptic's games that sub is not a good choice, I think this was one of the reasons why they skipped sub option entirely in Neverwinter. Both free with occasional Zen purchases or buying a lifer are better options in STO. (if you desperately want the veteran stuff I mean, with lifetime you get all of those). Subbing for a few months is the most expensive way in STO :)

     

    Edit: subbing is the most expensive way ...after the f2p switch ofc.

     It's the EXACT same thing With LOTRO too now.

    There is litterly ZERO reason to subcribe anymore. A total rip-off.

    You better off just put the sub Money into Turbine Points and get Three times as much, then when you subscribe.

  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    Originally posted by JeroKane
    Originally posted by Po_gg
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf
    Originally posted by evicton

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

    I agree completely.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have subscribed, and just tossed the 25 bucks into the pot and let it be.  Then again, I'd be looking REAL hard at what I was purchasing.  RMT just rubs me wrong.  I'm really wanting to like this game though, I thought the ground combat and ship combat is outstanding.   Plays just like starfleet command... still got that in the box too.  

    It's common in Cryptic's games that sub is not a good choice, I think this was one of the reasons why they skipped sub option entirely in Neverwinter. Both free with occasional Zen purchases or buying a lifer are better options in STO. (if you desperately want the veteran stuff I mean, with lifetime you get all of those). Subbing for a few months is the most expensive way in STO :)

     

    Edit: subbing is the most expensive way ...after the f2p switch ofc.

     It's the EXACT same thing With LOTRO too now.

    There is litterly ZERO reason to subcribe anymore. A total rip-off.

    You better off just put the sub Money into Turbine Points and get Three times as much, then when you subscribe.

    Indeed :)

    I probably wrote here earlier that as some kinda protest move I cancelled mine after Turbine snatched the servers from Codies and dragged them over the Atlantic - and it was a pleasant surprise that the gameplay remained the same without a sub. (since I don't pvp)

     

    In STO the only, somewhat worthy stuff behind the subscription is the veteran reward, but if someone wants those, it's easier to simply buy a lifetime. Everything else is in the Store, so it's a better way just buying some Zen and pick the useful items from there.

    On a second thought, maybe it's worth to sub for a month during the leveling course to 50, for the 4 retrain tokens vip players get with the promotions.

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Ya, I noticed that with STO myself there didn't seem to be any point in subbing.

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  • marganculosmarganculos Member UncommonPosts: 334

    like everything from Perfect World Entertainment... buy ZEN or gtfo...

  • Squeak69Squeak69 Member UncommonPosts: 959
    Originally posted by JeroKane
    Originally posted by Po_gg
    Originally posted by lordstarwolf
    Originally posted by evicton

    the real flaw is there isn't enough reasons to sub in the first place. Your betting off spending 25$ on a new ship then you are subbing for 2 months.

    I agree completely.  Had I known this, I wouldn't have subscribed, and just tossed the 25 bucks into the pot and let it be.  Then again, I'd be looking REAL hard at what I was purchasing.  RMT just rubs me wrong.  I'm really wanting to like this game though, I thought the ground combat and ship combat is outstanding.   Plays just like starfleet command... still got that in the box too.  

    It's common in Cryptic's games that sub is not a good choice, I think this was one of the reasons why they skipped sub option entirely in Neverwinter. Both free with occasional Zen purchases or buying a lifer are better options in STO. (if you desperately want the veteran stuff I mean, with lifetime you get all of those). Subbing for a few months is the most expensive way in STO :)

     

    Edit: subbing is the most expensive way ...after the f2p switch ofc.

     It's the EXACT same thing With LOTRO too now.

    There is litterly ZERO reason to subcribe anymore. A total rip-off.

    You better off just put the sub Money into Turbine Points and get Three times as much, then when you subscribe.

    sad but true you get more from buying point straight then actual subbing.

    one thing to note that pissed me off with the in particular there is a clothing item called knee high boot for females, i use it on my female bridg eofficers, when i made my romlulan char i found out that the exat sme item identical in every way exept one that beig they added the word romulen to it so it was called romulen knee high boot, had to be purchased again to sue it casue i was on a romulen char and not a fed.

    what kinda money grabing crap is this, i mean i own the boot fed side but they add one word to it so i have to buy it again for a char in a different faction that is the pure highlight of what i hate about F2P and cash shops right there the oboiuse bullshit done to make you fork out more and more money for basic stuff, to include buying the exact same item several times for each char you play.

    F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used toimage
    Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.

  • koboldfodderkoboldfodder Member UncommonPosts: 447

    Here is the problem.

     

    -Both STO (and LOTRO) did not start off as F2P games, and they were acquired by other companies along the way.  PWI bought up all of Cryptic and Warner Brothers got LOTRO.  And while the content is still created by "Cryptic" people or "Turbine" people, the business model is controlled by the parent company.

     

    When you play STO, you always get the sense that this game really had potential.  It is, of course, a garbage game for many reasons....but that potential has always been there.  LOTRO was a very good game, then the F2P design gated everything just like it does in STO.

     

    You can still subscribe to both games, and both games still have their lifetime subscribers.  But you guessed it....but even they still have to PAY for expansions AND what is even worse (with STO) they still have to pay in the cash shop.  You can sort of get by with LOTRO if you deed-grind.....yes, it takes forever but you can theoretically play that game for free.  You cannot do that with STO.  They shut that door.

     

    So if you subscribe to STO, you will get a ship at every level or so...but those ships are totally useless at Vice Admiral level.  And how much of a coincidence is it that you DONT get that free ship token once you hit Vice Admiral.  Congratulations, you now get to BUY things with real money mr. subscriber.

     

    I think I bought a retrofit Defiant ship, which is still a great ship.  I was gonna go grab the three Vesta ships for my Science VA....but for some reason I cannot remember my old password and the Cryptic/PWI accounts are all messed up.  Not worth the effort.

     

    Play Neverwinter if you want to get an idea of what PWI is really about.  That game was designed to specifically NOT have a subscription.  You pay for EVERYTHING.  You laugh at paying 20 dollars for a ship in STO.  Try paying 20 dollars for one inventory bag.  40 dollars for a mount.  LOL.

     

    I laugh at the fools playing PWI games thinking they can play it for free.  You WILL spend more than you spend a year for a subscription game.  There is no way to avoid that.

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