Making a new crew takes a significant amount of time.
Some of the time saved by running "flashbacks" as opposed to "reruns" allows us also to improve on our tools. This in turn made it so that Fast as Light could be adapted to the correct rewards structure without requiring too much time.
I would like also to remind everyone that in a game things are subject to changes.
I am sure none of what I said above will deter anyone from thinking there is something more nefarious at play, oh well
Yup! My tin foil hat is telling me that in reality, you're secretly conspiring with the Ferengis to put crypto-miners in all our app. That's why you guys need the spare time to to program this in... QOL changes (for DB) eh... amirite?
In the immortal words of Spock: "Live long and prosper"
Customer service has gone down the toilet in the last 40-50 years.
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I like the game, but DB’s responsiveness to their customers could certainly stand to be better. Talking about how you’d like things to be improved isn’t entitlement, unless you’re a corporate shill.
But we're not talking about customer service, we're talking about rewards and the "you owe us this" type of mentality. It's not poor "customer service" to create this Flashback structure of event where there is no legendary threshold reward. It's just a different reward structure than what you've seen in recent reruns. It's why they gave it a different name and explained to the playerbase that they're intending on using the time saved on other improvements or bug fixes
Poor customer service would be when a bug effects you and the company does a poor job of rectifying the problem.
A culture of entitlement is displayed when people think they are owed something and you start becoming unreasonable about it. It was extremely poor tact to infer to Shan/DB as con-artists. It's one thing to express disappointment or your wishes, it's another thing to start calling names and having poor tone throughout.
DB has plenty of faults. But I don't find it unreasonable for them to do these "Flashbacks" and make the absolute minimum changes, in order to focus their efforts elsewhere. Regardless of all their previous mistakes and bugs, I choose to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're working on fixes and/or new features. People too can make the same choice ... that or just speak with your wallet/activity.
The poster didn’t seem to be whiny and entitled to me. The poster wasn’t asking DB to go out of their way to benefit him as I saw it. He was more pointing out that since DB was already doing “X”, it would be very little extra effort, if at all, to do “Y”, so why not do “Y”, where “X” is an action that benefits DB, and “Y” is an action that benefits the player.
That didn’t seem entitled to me, just common sense.
Why not benefit both? If I managed a company, and hadn’t thought of something that would cost me very little extra effort and wouldn’t effect my bottom line, but would make customers happy, why would I not do that thing?
Again, I really don’t see a way of looking at this that’s entitled. The poster seemed very reasonable, and I think he’d accept any reasonable explanation without blinking an eye. He was just more asking, “Why not?”
I worked retail (back in the golden days), and sometimes we’d have, “Buy 2, get 50% off,” sales. You’d have customers ask, “I just need one. Can I get one at 25%?” It is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. If there wasn’t a reason, they’d get the 25% off. If there was, we’d explain the situation, and 99% were like, “Oh, ok. Makes sense.”
Explaining things to customers almost always worked. 99% of people aren’t unreasonable. It’s only when you try to throw this big veil of secrecy over things and refuse to explain that people start to get irritated. And who wouldn’t be irritated asking a reasonable question and being told to be quiet and that they’re “entitled” just for asking?
IMHO there is such a thing as an entitled customer, but OP is not one.
"Y" would also financially benefit DB, since at least some people would buy the DYC.
Why was Vicki not expelled from Greendale after she literally stabbed Pierce in the face with a pencil?!?!?
I'm sorry but "change is inevitable" is con artist speak. Change happens sure, it can be good or bad and I'm sure most people here will agree that here you're serving us the bad version. You don't have to create new crew for the leaderboards in reruns and you can also an older card to the 400k threshold. You chose not to. You're making bad changes and if you want to call it nefarious that's up to you.
You could also use that opportunity to make improvements and come up with something that doesn't require us to be on our toes to know exactly what's going to happen in the coming week with half a dozen rewards structures that get changed on a whim.
Sorry to be harsh, you're just the PR person and that's your job, but that kind of PR speak is rather upsetting.
IMHO there is such a thing as an entitled customer, but OP is not one.
In comparing flashbacks and reruns:
Positives of flashbacks compared to re-runs
Get an additional star on an existing gold the prior week for top 1500
No new crew in a pack with two golds and odds half as good as normal packs
Negatives of flashbacks compared to re-runs
No additional star on an existing gold for 400k
I think the issue with the OP here, is that they basically inferred that DB was acting like a con artist in not giving flashbacks a threshold existing gold at 400k.
For those of us considering both the positives and negatives of flashbacks not just the one negative, things are basically a wash and we find the con artist description unfair and inaccurate.
As a reminder, this was a specific answer to the typical PR BS Shan served us. It's her job and I'm aware of that, but I'm calling a spade a spade. Trying to convince us that change for the worst is acceptable because change is "inevitable" is a con. If you think otherwise, I'm welcoming any argument proving me that there are forces of nature akin to the law of physics at work in game design. If you also think that paying customers should accept getting less according to these laws then I'm also waiting for evidence. In case we can agree that game design is what the designers want, Shan should at least have the decency to acknowledge that they're taking something away from us and give us a solid explanation on why this is happening and not the "we're too busy" excuse, this is deplorable and not good enough to justify no 400k gold crew.
This entire post reads as REEEEEEE to me. Would it be nice to have the features 5* in a Flashback event both as the previous week’s ranked reward and a 400k threshold reward? Of course it would. It would stand to reason that such a move would drive a little more engagement and a little more spending because people could conceivably get a 2/5* instead of two 1/5*s; DB of course still monetizes slots but they have made moves above and beyond the infrequent five free slots to relieve some of the stress of limited slots, and this would be another small courtesy they could make in that regard.
For whatever reason, DB chose to not double dip on the existing 5* in Flashback events. That’s not “taking something away from us”...it’s “not giving us extra stuff above and beyond what is customary elsewhere in the game.” Perhaps they have decided that there could be a game balance issue by offering up too many 5*s for something other than dilithium, perhaps the engine really is that hard to adjust threshold rewards for...whatever the reason, to jump immediately to Evil Corporation Bait & Switch Complaint Mode is an unnecessary and frankly ludicrous overreaction. Flashbacks exist to save on programming/art resources spent on designing a new crew and integrating said crew into a Rerun event - that shouldn’t be a problem at all in Skirmishes, but Faction shuttle missions and Galaxy event recipes do need to be rewritten and rebalanced.
Choosing how the threshold rewards are set up is a separate choice made by DB management, and almost certainly has nothing to do with focusing limited resources on other things. It’s an odd choice and one that I am sure we would appreciate a change of heart on, but does not in any way rise to the level of perfidy you are claiming.
I'm sorry but "change is inevitable" is con artist speak. Change happens sure, it can be good or bad and I'm sure most people here will agree that here you're serving us the bad version. You don't have to create new crew for the leaderboards in reruns and you can also an older card to the 400k threshold. You chose not to. You're making bad changes and if you want to call it nefarious that's up to you.
You could also use that opportunity to make improvements and come up with something that doesn't require us to be on our toes to know exactly what's going to happen in the coming week with half a dozen rewards structures that get changed on a whim.
Sorry to be harsh, you're just the PR person and that's your job, but that kind of PR speak is rather upsetting.
IMHO there is such a thing as an entitled customer, but OP is not one.
In comparing flashbacks and reruns:
Positives of flashbacks compared to re-runs
Get an additional star on an existing gold the prior week for top 1500
No new crew in a pack with two golds and odds half as good as normal packs
Negatives of flashbacks compared to re-runs
No additional star on an existing gold for 400k
I think the issue with the OP here, is that they basically inferred that DB was acting like a con artist in not giving flashbacks a threshold existing gold at 400k.
For those of us considering both the positives and negatives of flashbacks not just the one negative, things are basically a wash and we find the con artist description unfair and inaccurate.
As a reminder, this was a specific answer to the typical PR BS Shan served us. It's her job and I'm aware of that, but I'm calling a spade a spade. Trying to convince us that change for the worst is acceptable because change is "inevitable" is a con. If you think otherwise, I'm welcoming any argument proving me that there are forces of nature akin to the law of physics at work in game design. If you also think that paying customers should accept getting less according to these laws then I'm also waiting for evidence. In case we can agree that game design is what the designers want, Shan should at least have the decency to acknowledge that they're taking something away from us and give us a solid explanation on why this is happening and not the "we're too busy" excuse, this is deplorable and not good enough to justify no 400k gold crew.
This entire post reads as REEEEEEE to me. Would it be nice to have the features 5* in a Flashback event both as the previous week’s ranked reward and a 400k threshold reward? Of course it would. It would stand to reason that such a move would drive a little more engagement and a little more spending because people could conceivably get a 2/5* instead of two 1/5*s; DB of course still monetizes slots but they have made moves above and beyond the infrequent five free slots to relieve some of the stress of limited slots, and this would be another small courtesy they could make in that regard.
For whatever reason, DB chose to not double dip on the existing 5* in Flashback events. That’s not “taking something away from us”...it’s “not giving us extra stuff above and beyond what is customary elsewhere in the game.” Perhaps they have decided that there could be a game balance issue by offering up too many 5*s for something other than dilithium, perhaps the engine really is that hard to adjust threshold rewards for...whatever the reason, to jump immediately to Evil Corporation Bait & Switch Complaint Mode is an unnecessary and frankly ludicrous overreaction. Flashbacks exist to save on programming/art resources spent on designing a new crew and integrating said crew into a Rerun event - that shouldn’t be a problem at all in Skirmishes, but Faction shuttle missions and Galaxy event recipes do need to be rewritten and rebalanced.
Choosing how the threshold rewards are set up is a separate choice made by DB management, and almost certainly has nothing to do with focusing limited resources on other things. It’s an odd choice and one that I am sure we would appreciate a change of heart on, but does not in any way rise to the level of perfidy you are claiming.
Threshold & Out landed me at #2608, in case anyone has any curiosity about that. That was with cashing in my Super Rares as I went, rather than holding onto them to cash in after clearing thresholds.
Threshold & Out landed me at #2608, in case anyone has any curiosity about that. That was with cashing in my Super Rares as I went, rather than holding onto them to cash in after clearing thresholds.
It was super tightly packed from 2000-2700ish, with all those who essentially went threshold-and-out like yourself.
After clearing thresholds I was sitting around 2380 with a couple hours left, wanting to finish in the top-2500 to immortalize a 2nd Duchamps. I built enough to complete a single super-rare build, which totalled about 15-20k points. That alone moved me up over 400 spots! I didn't build anything else and wound up finishing at 2125.
Threshold & Out landed me at #2608, in case anyone has any curiosity about that. That was with cashing in my Super Rares as I went, rather than holding onto them to cash in after clearing thresholds.
It was super tightly packed from 2000-2700ish, with all those who essentially went threshold-and-out like yourself.
After clearing thresholds I was sitting around 2380 with a couple hours left, wanting to finish in the top-2500 to immortalize a 2nd Duchamps. I built enough to complete a single super-rare build, which totalled about 15-20k points. That alone moved me up over 400 spots! I didn't build anything else and wound up finishing at 2125.
That's precisely why I stopped after clearing thresholds: That tiny little bit of one more build put you where you wanted to be. Glad you got that third Duchamps!
Comments
Between the last two mega events there were both a flashback and a rerun in a 4 event span.
Before the first flashback we used to have 2 replays between megas.
Sometimes we had 1, and the times there were two they were always first and last in a 5 week span between mega events, not 2 in 4 weeks.
Yup! My tin foil hat is telling me that in reality, you're secretly conspiring with the Ferengis to put crypto-miners in all our app. That's why you guys need the spare time to to program this in... QOL changes (for DB) eh... amirite?
"Y" would also financially benefit DB, since at least some people would buy the DYC.
This entire post reads as REEEEEEE to me. Would it be nice to have the features 5* in a Flashback event both as the previous week’s ranked reward and a 400k threshold reward? Of course it would. It would stand to reason that such a move would drive a little more engagement and a little more spending because people could conceivably get a 2/5* instead of two 1/5*s; DB of course still monetizes slots but they have made moves above and beyond the infrequent five free slots to relieve some of the stress of limited slots, and this would be another small courtesy they could make in that regard.
For whatever reason, DB chose to not double dip on the existing 5* in Flashback events. That’s not “taking something away from us”...it’s “not giving us extra stuff above and beyond what is customary elsewhere in the game.” Perhaps they have decided that there could be a game balance issue by offering up too many 5*s for something other than dilithium, perhaps the engine really is that hard to adjust threshold rewards for...whatever the reason, to jump immediately to Evil Corporation Bait & Switch Complaint Mode is an unnecessary and frankly ludicrous overreaction. Flashbacks exist to save on programming/art resources spent on designing a new crew and integrating said crew into a Rerun event - that shouldn’t be a problem at all in Skirmishes, but Faction shuttle missions and Galaxy event recipes do need to be rewritten and rebalanced.
Choosing how the threshold rewards are set up is a separate choice made by DB management, and almost certainly has nothing to do with focusing limited resources on other things. It’s an odd choice and one that I am sure we would appreciate a change of heart on, but does not in any way rise to the level of perfidy you are claiming.
100% agree
This will change drastically in the morning when people begin redeeming their super-rares.
It was super tightly packed from 2000-2700ish, with all those who essentially went threshold-and-out like yourself.
After clearing thresholds I was sitting around 2380 with a couple hours left, wanting to finish in the top-2500 to immortalize a 2nd Duchamps. I built enough to complete a single super-rare build, which totalled about 15-20k points. That alone moved me up over 400 spots! I didn't build anything else and wound up finishing at 2125.
That's precisely why I stopped after clearing thresholds: That tiny little bit of one more build put you where you wanted to be. Glad you got that third Duchamps!