CAPTAIN'S BLOG
Blog History
- + 2016
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2015
- + December
- + November
- + October
- + September
- + August
- + July
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2014
- + December
- + November
- + October
- + September
- + August
- + July
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2013
- + December
- + November
- + October
- + September
- + August
- + July
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2012
- + December
- + November
- + October
- + September
- + August
- + July
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2011
- + December
- + November
- + October
- + September
- + August
- + July
- + June
- + May
- + April
- + March
- + February
- + January
- + 2010
Starbases and the C-Store
Captain's Blog Stardate 90048.29
I promise, I'll stop talking about fleet starbases soon! I just want to quickly give you my thoughts on the latest information Cryptic put out about the starbases. If you didn't hear, fleet leaders get to choose projects which have requirements to complete. Members of the fleet will contribute these requirements (energy credits, items, dilithium, etc.) and recieve Fleet Credits. Once the requirements are met, the proejct will begin and when it completes the starbase gets some experience and grows. By the way, Fleet Credits will be used to buy special items at your fleet's starbase.
It all sounds great. It gives members an incentive to participate and help the fleet strengthen its base. I do like that Cryptic made it very easy for the entire fleet to participate. I also like that projects can have a wide variety of rewards such as new NPCs on the station, asthetic changes, and much more. It seems like they put a lot of thought into it. Now it just needs to get released in the game!
Enough about fleet starbases, did you see that Cryptic released account wide banks this week? Well if you're a gold member you automatically get free bank slots and can store a huge load of energy credits in your account bank. Its great for transfering items back and forth between characters. The only items you can't transfer are bound items. Unfortunately silver members don't have free access to it. From what I understood in the latest Ask Cryptic, silver members will need to buy bank slots from the C-Store in order to have access to the account bank. Personally, I think that they should have access to it, but give them less slots and a much lower Energy Credit limit. The way I see it, if you give silver members a taste of account banks then they might be more inclined to buy additional slots.
Speaking of buying things from the C-Store, there is a Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer pack in there which will be gone on June 21st. If you buy it now, you'll have a chance to get a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship. These were first given out during the Winter Event at the end of 2011, and players now have a second chance to get them through these Duty Officer packs. This is, of course, another way for Cryptic to make money. Personally, I can't blame them for doing this because now that the game is free, they need some sort of income. Although I do know that there are plenty of people who are frustrated and feel that Cryptic puts everything on the C-Store. As long as they don't start putting missions on there, I'll be happy.
My question this week, What do you think about all this C-Store stuff? Do you think Cryptic should give us more things for free? Should they make it easier to obtain C-Store items through in-game means (for exmaple, Dilithium)? Let me know your thoughts!
Written by Attilio on June 10, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Comments
June 11, 2012 at 04:32 am
I think the gamma quadrant pack promo is a great idea. You get something worth 220 c points along with 10 lobi and a shot at getting a jem hadar ship. When they sent the survey out, I wrote on the survey that I wouldn't mind lockboxes if you got something worth the 100 c-points that the key cost. Maybe a lot of other people put that too.
Reply to Tesseract ToxxJune 11, 2012 at 05:24 am
I love the C-Store... Yeah I do. But they should follow LotRO's model. Why you may ask? Ill tell you. They have quest packs on there, down loadable, content that gold members have access to but, not silver unless they pay. Now I know this may sound odd, but they also have acheivments that you can earn turbine (c-points) points from doing. They range from 5-20 I belive. But the point is you can earn these from playing and dont have to spend cash to get them. Just makes doing the achievments worth more than a oddball passive buff.
Reply to LorusJune 11, 2012 at 07:49 am
Well,the C-Store is their primary money maker now and it's only natural that they'll make the C-Store stuff better but I still manage to make it on top in PvP with regular gear.So thumbs up for Criptic for keeping STO well balanced!
As far as Dilithium exchange goes,I'm pretty sure it's meant for buying items from the Dilithium store.So the exchange is supposed to go points for dilithium,not dilithium for points...
June 11, 2012 at 02:52 pm
I do not like the C-Store at its current mode of operation.
The Lobi Store Items Should be C-Store Items and Lobi Crystals should Be on the Dilithium X-Change. We were told by Dan Stahl that Lobi is not tradeable because it is aquired with real monies, trading such items allows for trading real monies in game for product ad thus breaks the ULA. Trading Dilithium for C-points does the same thing. Hippocritcal to say the least.
Lobi exchanged for C-points offers some sense of the mess it creates. I could go on but whats the point. Thats my two cents.
June 11, 2012 at 06:05 pm
Shh. Don't give them ideas about missions.
Reply to T'SoraJune 12, 2012 at 08:42 am
I would buy C-points if they didn't cost sooo much..!! im from the UK.. so they cost me �18 for 2000 ... to me this is insane !!!
1 ship will cost me �18..!!! lol
if they made it cheaper.. i would prob buy them every month.. thus them getting more money from me... but i cant warrant spending that much on a game.. just for a ship..!
lol
June 12, 2012 at 10:21 am
I really like the account wide banks. Being able to accumulate ECs in one place is great. I would like to have more item slots, but some are way better then none.
I also liked the Gamma Quadrant pack, almost enough to buy it. If it weren't for the need to save up for the fleet starbases, I would have used some of my monthly C-points to buy the Gamma Quadrant pack instead of selling them at the crazy prices they are going for on the Dilithium Exchange.
I also echo Peter's comment about the C-Point ships. I'd like to have the Odyssey set, but for an extra fifty bucks, I'll stick to the free one I already have.
June 16, 2012 at 04:06 pm
I must admit that I admire the lobes on the Ferengi developers at Cryptic/PWE. I do not begrudge Cryptic/PWE the opportunity take advantage of the customer. I'll just speak from my perspective, which seems to be growing. I'm not one of the wealthy people that must have every new item the moment it is released. I'm on a budget, and I look for value in everything I spend money on. Playing the STO lottery (lockboxes) doesn't make much sense to me since there is so much mystery still surrounding it. Why would I play a contest where I didn't know the odds of winning? The C-Store has some items that are just high-priced garbage not worth real money. The duty-officer packs are worthless, even with the remote possibility of a Jem'Hadar ship. 'Good' from a revenue generation perspective is different from a 'Good' in a player enjoyment perspective. I'll echo the statement that many have heard me say before: "give me something worth buying, and I will buy it."
Reply to greasemonkey98