As I said earlier, it's five and out for me. No incentive to participate any longer in the Arena except to complete the daily 5. These new ships in Commander and Captain are weak, and not worth the effort to play hard for. As for the D'Kora in Admiral, I can get those schematics in dabo or in premium and event packs.
In all, not a smart move, IMO. Personally, I won't be buying packs of schematics.
We didn't get an opportunity to follow up on this during the day due to the Voyages issues.
The Arena rewards did get swapped out today, and we know we should have given players a heads up.
There was a bug where in the UI, all of the ships were showing up as 1-star. This was fixed.
Going forward, we're going to consistently update the Arena rewards at the start of each month, and look into getting that information more easily accessible to you prior to the switch.
We understand that not all of the updated Arena rewards are attractive to all of the players. I've got a maxxed out D'kora myself. However, the intent is there would still be enough diversity so there's at least one ship worth your time.
As for changing the rewards, adding alternative redemption options, etc, that's not happening for this month, but the production team is aware of your suggestions, and they are a consideration for planning upcoming rewards.
Lastly, I don't know right now when/where the Borg Sphere or IKS T'Ong will be available, but there will be opportunities for players to finishing leveling them.
Swapping rewards monthly seems much too quickly. Considering how long it takes to get even a single level of a ship I don't think monthly is very fair to most players (those who will not buy schematics packs). However long it was since the rewards were last swapped I think you should do that length plus one month which should ensure that a good chunk of the player base who actively participates in the arena can max the ship.
At 30 days of rewards at the highest reward tier that gives you
900 3* schematics
1950 4* schematics
3600 5* schematics
This gets you level 4 on a 3* ship, level 5 on a 4*, and level 6 on a 5*.
Why not change it every quarter like you do with the 4* rewards in the daily table? That should give even lower reward tier players plenty of time to max the ship.
I guess it depends on how many rotations there are. I could be ok with a monthly change if there are only say 6 rotations of ships.
Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again."
As someone who has supported a large userbase and frankly high intensity fire drills like what you've seen on Voyages, I have some advice.
If you don't have time to communicate, you don't make the change until you DO have the time.
It's simple. Sometimes things go to hell and you have to adjust your timetable, but communication is not a nicety. Its a necessity, and it really is sounding like y'all think it is the former and not the latter.
In my former jobs as well as my current, it is part of the Change Management process.
Hi Pallidyne,
I agree with everything you said. I also apologize if I gave you the impression that communication is an afterthought.
Reality is, when a major issue comes up such as the problem with Voyages, it's going to consume most of our available bandwidth. That's not an excuse, that's just what today was. And it's obvious there's room for improvement
We do pay attention to all of the feedback, including your advice, and it's appreciated.
@Black Pebble Voyage issue came yesterday and that coincided with communication plans so basically what you are saying is that DB was planning to communicate on the day changes went live rather than in advance. How do justify calling communicating on the day of going live as 'COMMUNICATION'? You all need to attend Communication 101.
They want us to all get ALMOST max level and then switch the rewards. Probably hoping that people will buy schematic packs to finish the ships. Never gonna happen.
Well, right now you can't even buy NX, T'Ong, or Borg Sphere anywhere, so I'm not sure what the intention was.
I was either in the Top 5% or 1% everyday of those rewards and all 3 ships are 2 levels away from Max for me too, but it was all free anyway.
I am interested in getting the Hirogen ship though.
“You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
― Musashi, Japan's Greatest Swordsman and Samurai
They want us to all get ALMOST max level and then switch the rewards. Probably hoping that people will buy schematic packs to finish the ships. Never gonna happen.
Well, right now you can't even buy NX, T'Ong, or Borg Sphere anywhere, so I'm not sure what the intention was.
I was either in the Top 5% or 1% everyday of those reward and all 3 are 2 levels away from Max for me too, but it was all free anyway.
Some folks get the deal of the week with Borg schems in it. I got it a few times (passed as I refuse to buy schems at this point.)
I held off commenting until now but the statement about a plan to make them available by other means (not in the works) was the most disturbing part to me. Sounds like it was a plan change in the works for a while but never communicated. And it wasn't even listed in the server notes. I didn't believe people in my fleet at first until I restarted and saw the sadness. Seems like a missed opportunity to bring good will and a possible way to earn money to me.
Booo! I was so happy the T'Ong was the Admiral ship. The K'tinga is my favorite and I was enjoying leveling it.
Same here!! i actually paid for the pack for the generic version, and it's kinda nice to get a small flow of schems for that now....but i had the good one up to 8/10 already!
Here's a thought experiment though - what if they changed the rewards with no notice...but it was an awesome ship we all want, like the 1701 refit? what would the reaction here be?
Here's a thought experiment though - what if they changed the rewards with no notice...but it was an awesome ship we all want, like the 1701 refit? what would the reaction here be?
Probably would have people spending dil on tickets to stay at the top . You're, right it's the combo of losing the ability to max your ship with the switch to weaker schematics that hurts the most.
Here's a thought experiment though - what if they changed the rewards with no notice...but it was an awesome ship we all want, like the 1701 refit? what would the reaction here be?
Frankly, I'd still be critical of the lack of communication. I think this is actually a good change, rotating things on an ongoing basis so it doesn't get stale. HOWEVER, as has been the case a lot lately, even good changes have come with no or incomplete communication. It grabs defeat from the jaws of victory.
The thing is, only 5* ships have value outside of the arena. I lost interest in maxing out anything but a 5*.
You could boost traits to 3* and 4* ships for voyages so they do serve a purpose but basically you killed arena for me and many others.
The first two divisions are so unbalanced there is no reason to play. Getting the 15K award in captain is impossible reliably unless you have a Borg sphere. Same on lower end without taking up crew slots.
I'm only interested in 5* battles but not without a reward.
I'm still very annoyed with this bonehead decision. Stop running away players.
Schematics for a 3* ship in Commander are useful to beginning players, and that bracket should be tailored to them. I have 4* Warbird which I use in Captain. I'll never use the K't'inga.
I maxed the Krayton long ago, thanks to Dabo, along with the Mirror Enterprise and Borg Scout Ship. Yet, those are the only 3 schematics I am offered on Dabo, period. NEVER anything else. It would be nice to get T'Ong schematics [or anything else useful] on Dabo. The only division that has any interest for me now is Captain, and I'll probably never use the Hirogen ship, even if I can manage to max it before DB pulls the rug out on us again.
I've gotten 1% rewards for Admiral division EVERY DAY since they switched and my ship is 9/10. This is absolutely ridiculous. If you get the top rewards EVERY DAY you should not be left with an unfinished ship.
Same. I'm disappointed in the change. But to do some without explaining their intent is absurd. My guess would be to get people more ships that have voyage bonuses and we'll see these rewards rotate out more - which I'm not opposed too. But, then they need to update the portal with Sphere, IKC, NX schematics. Long overdue. Until then, I really don't have much interest in playing the arena.
I remember being super excited about the range of ships when I first started playing and dutifully tracked them all down. Unfortunately, they don’t really have a lot of functionality so I lost interest. The arena gives me a cost free way to get 50% of my daily space missions done. Other than that, it all replicator fuel
I hope this is a sign of things to come, changing ships every month would better IMO.
I thought the same thing when they changed. I'll max out the other ships whenever they rotate them back in. The ships are mostly irrelevant to the game anyway so there's no rush to get them maxed.
I mean yeah sure some of us are rather upset (to put it mildly) that they dared to take away our IKS T'ongs but how many of us would actually use it even if we had it maxed out? Take a look at the admiral rank right now, its a sea of Bounties, ISS Enterprises, Bounties, Borg scout ships and more Bounties....with added Bounties.
I think by this point many (most?) of us have the Bounty maxed out so how many of us would actually use the T'ong? Lets look at the wiki for this one:
There are some things the T'ong has better and others the Bounty has better. Even if we all had T'ongs I still think we'd be seeing fleets of bounties. Maybe I just dont have enough experience with the T'ong to see it as the absolute must have alternative to the Bounty.
Ok so the Ferengi ship is garbage but its not going to be here for long, we're not going to be getting it for months. Eventually they'll give us a new 5* ship. Now we're going to get the chance to max out all our ships as they cycle around.
Strangely enough, I was expecting this from day 1 when they overhauled the rewards. “This is too good to be true” I thought, and simply figured that they would be rotating things on a periodic basis. That didn’t stop me from having a glimmer of hope that they would rotate slowly enough to allow consistent top finishers to complete a ship, but c’est la vie. At least there will be different ships each month now, so in theory we’ll be able to max everything eventually...
First Officer - Task Force April
Squadron Leader - [TFA] Bateson’s Bulldogs
I haven't had this offer ever ... but why not just simply add the recently eliminated starship schematics from the Arena to the regular blue 1x and purple 10x Time Portal pulls? That would be fair for everyone!
"Everything about the Jem'Hadar is lethal!" - Eris (ST-DS9 Episode 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar")
Yeah it has. At this point throw in some klingon ships and I would probably be tempted. But not everyone has the sphere so it's not as bad as ships that drop in packs
Comments
In all, not a smart move, IMO. Personally, I won't be buying packs of schematics.
Swapping rewards monthly seems much too quickly. Considering how long it takes to get even a single level of a ship I don't think monthly is very fair to most players (those who will not buy schematics packs). However long it was since the rewards were last swapped I think you should do that length plus one month which should ensure that a good chunk of the player base who actively participates in the arena can max the ship.
At 30 days of rewards at the highest reward tier that gives you
900 3* schematics
1950 4* schematics
3600 5* schematics
This gets you level 4 on a 3* ship, level 5 on a 4*, and level 6 on a 5*.
Why not change it every quarter like you do with the 4* rewards in the daily table? That should give even lower reward tier players plenty of time to max the ship.
@Black Pebble Voyage issue came yesterday and that coincided with communication plans so basically what you are saying is that DB was planning to communicate on the day changes went live rather than in advance.
How do justify calling communicating on the day of going live as 'COMMUNICATION'?
You all need to attend Communication 101.
Well, right now you can't even buy NX, T'Ong, or Borg Sphere anywhere, so I'm not sure what the intention was.
I was either in the Top 5% or 1% everyday of those rewards and all 3 ships are 2 levels away from Max for me too, but it was all free anyway.
I am interested in getting the Hirogen ship though.
― Musashi, Japan's Greatest Swordsman and Samurai
Some folks get the deal of the week with Borg schems in it. I got it a few times (passed as I refuse to buy schems at this point.)
Same here!! i actually paid for the pack for the generic version, and it's kinda nice to get a small flow of schems for that now....but i had the good one up to 8/10 already!
Probably would have people spending dil on tickets to stay at the top
Frankly, I'd still be critical of the lack of communication. I think this is actually a good change, rotating things on an ongoing basis so it doesn't get stale. HOWEVER, as has been the case a lot lately, even good changes have come with no or incomplete communication. It grabs defeat from the jaws of victory.
You could boost traits to 3* and 4* ships for voyages so they do serve a purpose but basically you killed arena for me and many others.
The first two divisions are so unbalanced there is no reason to play. Getting the 15K award in captain is impossible reliably unless you have a Borg sphere. Same on lower end without taking up crew slots.
I'm only interested in 5* battles but not without a reward.
I'm still very annoyed with this bonehead decision. Stop running away players.
I maxed the Krayton long ago, thanks to Dabo, along with the Mirror Enterprise and Borg Scout Ship. Yet, those are the only 3 schematics I am offered on Dabo, period. NEVER anything else. It would be nice to get T'Ong schematics [or anything else useful] on Dabo. The only division that has any interest for me now is Captain, and I'll probably never use the Hirogen ship, even if I can manage to max it before DB pulls the rug out on us again.
Very, very disappointed in this change.
Same. I'm disappointed in the change. But to do some without explaining their intent is absurd. My guess would be to get people more ships that have voyage bonuses and we'll see these rewards rotate out more - which I'm not opposed too. But, then they need to update the portal with Sphere, IKC, NX schematics. Long overdue. Until then, I really don't have much interest in playing the arena.
Join the eXo|plosion today!
Yeah, I do 1 battle a day in admiral just so I don't reset to zero wins and stay in 500 range all day.
No one is playing now. Good job DB! You successfully killed a part of your game. Hope that was your intent.
Next time ask the players what they would like to see before making a bone head move. Remember, we have to like the game to spend money on it.
We're always making suggestions and available for feedback. Why don't you try using it?
The guys on forums are more familiar with the game that you guys are. That I'd painfully obvious. Try using your free consulting...
I thought the same thing when they changed. I'll max out the other ships whenever they rotate them back in. The ships are mostly irrelevant to the game anyway so there's no rush to get them maxed.
I mean yeah sure some of us are rather upset (to put it mildly) that they dared to take away our IKS T'ongs but how many of us would actually use it even if we had it maxed out? Take a look at the admiral rank right now, its a sea of Bounties, ISS Enterprises, Bounties, Borg scout ships and more Bounties....with added Bounties.
I think by this point many (most?) of us have the Bounty maxed out so how many of us would actually use the T'ong? Lets look at the wiki for this one:
https://stt.wiki/wiki/H.M.S._Bounty
https://stt.wiki/wiki/IKS_T'Ong
There are some things the T'ong has better and others the Bounty has better. Even if we all had T'ongs I still think we'd be seeing fleets of bounties. Maybe I just dont have enough experience with the T'ong to see it as the absolute must have alternative to the Bounty.
Ok so the Ferengi ship is garbage but its not going to be here for long, we're not going to be getting it for months. Eventually they'll give us a new 5* ship. Now we're going to get the chance to max out all our ships as they cycle around.
Squadron Leader - [TFA] Bateson’s Bulldogs
I think we all new this was coming lol😂😂😂🤑🤑🤑
That offer has been around a lot longer than the change in Arena rewards.
DB: Do Better.
Member of Starship Trista.