I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
There is one particularly stellar VIP0 player whose longest voyage is tied with my longest, at 10:58. I don't know what that means for other VIP0 and f2p players, but it tells me that the chasm isn't so wide as some may think. I'm not denying that it exists. I mean, there's a reason people spend and that's to get ahead or caught up, depending upon how they look at it. From my point of view, it cost me quite a lot to catch up with that VIP0 player. Some of the ViP0 crowd stand to gain just as much as I, if the parameters were set at the 10 hour mark.
I think my longest is 11 hrs 2 mins. Only happened once, but I've had a fair few natural 10s.
Fleet Admiral of NCC UK Midlands."Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge." - J.T. Kirk, 2266
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
Which would increase their value.
Since we're talking about old, low-stat cards, "harder to get" doesn't make them more valuable, just more likely to sit at 1\5 indefinitely, taking up space.
If there's little hope of seeing another copy, that kind of card becomes less valuable, just a waste of space.
I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
So far in this thread, I’ve been called paranoid, and hyperbolic, but I really think my concerns are valid, and I’ll take one more stab at explaining WHY I think they’re valid.
Enterprise E Picard was one of my first immortal legendarys. He’s widely considered to be a weak card. However, he still comes in pretty handy during Picard faction events. A LOT of those weak old cards that people want added to voyages ALSO happen to be main cast cards that come up often in events. And at 1-3/5*, they aren’t much, if any, use to most of us in events, and they’re weak enough that we aren’t going to cite them up so that they become useful in events.
But if spenders can suddenly start adding a lot more stars to those older main cast legendarys at a disproportionate rate to non spenders, I don’t see how that COULDN’T affect event rankings, at least in faction events. Maybe I’m wrong, and if anyone sees a flaw in my logic, please point it out (you don’t need to insult me to do that, btw.)
But the way I see it, it would inevitably make competing in faction events even more difficult than they already are for free/low spenders. And I DO think that’s a concern that’s relevant to the topic of this poll.
I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
So far in this thread, I’ve been called paranoid, and hyperbolic, but I really think my concerns are valid, and I’ll take one more stab at explaining WHY I think they’re valid.
Enterprise E Picard was one of my first immortal legendarys. He’s widely considered to be a weak card. However, he still comes in pretty handy during Picard faction events. A LOT of those weak old cards that people want added to voyages ALSO happen to be main cast cards that come up often in events. And at 1-3/5*, they aren’t much, if any, use to most of us in events, and they’re weak enough that we aren’t going to cite them up so that they become useful in events.
But if spenders can suddenly start adding a lot more stars to those older main cast legendarys at a disproportionate rate to non spenders, I don’t see how that COULDN’T affect event rankings, at least in faction events. Maybe I’m wrong, and if anyone sees a flaw in my logic, please point it out (you don’t need to insult me to do that, btw.)
But the way I see it, it would inevitably make competing in faction events even more difficult than they already are for free/low spenders. And I DO think that’s a concern that’s relevant to the topic of this poll.
Because spenders already have a deep pool of faction relevant crew. I have Enterprise E Picard fully fused despite the fact that he's a terrible card. And I am not a big spender. If anything, medium spenders hit hard walls on roster depth and end up freezing or just not using their depth because they don't want to buy the crew space or the extra shuttles to use it.
But the main reason the above solution is not the 'solution' is that DB are not going to give away Legendaries that easily because it doesn't drive any revenue. Why would they do that? It makes no sense.
Everything about this game (and pretty much all computer games with microtransactions) is driven by what can I get my employees to work on that will drive revenue. PvP games, where the player is the product and P2W is more dubious tend to sell cosmetic items. PvE games tend to sell power, because the P2W element is less important. Guess what this games sells? Event advantage (dilithium, shuttle boosts, extra shuttles, chrons etc), and stronger rosters. This isn't unfair because it allows new players to compete if they want to. They just have to pay to do it. Or you can pay to increase the underlying strength of your roster. Also a completely valid strategy. If you are a free player there is a path to some of the former and all of the latter but it takes time and patience, and you are essentially playing a different style of game with much lower expectations on average (this doesn't mean that a VIP0 can't compete, it just means it's harder and possibly impossible to do consistently).
(It's also worth noting that this game sells lots of crap characters that are essentially space barbie and that's cool too. I just think they shouldn't be the same price as the good stuff.)
As far as insulting you, you entered this thread (and have entered others like it over time) claiming that some payers are trying to skew the game to their advantage as if it's some kind of oligarchic conspiracy. You are the tinfoil hat wearer here. I for one care about the game and just want it to continue. I am willing to pay to make that happen. Don't paint me as the enemy because I am willing to do that.
I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
So far in this thread, I’ve been called paranoid, and hyperbolic, but I really think my concerns are valid, and I’ll take one more stab at explaining WHY I think they’re valid.
Enterprise E Picard was one of my first immortal legendarys. He’s widely considered to be a weak card. However, he still comes in pretty handy during Picard faction events. A LOT of those weak old cards that people want added to voyages ALSO happen to be main cast cards that come up often in events. And at 1-3/5*, they aren’t much, if any, use to most of us in events, and they’re weak enough that we aren’t going to cite them up so that they become useful in events.
But if spenders can suddenly start adding a lot more stars to those older main cast legendarys at a disproportionate rate to non spenders, I don’t see how that COULDN’T affect event rankings, at least in faction events. Maybe I’m wrong, and if anyone sees a flaw in my logic, please point it out (you don’t need to insult me to do that, btw.)
But the way I see it, it would inevitably make competing in faction events even more difficult than they already are for free/low spenders. And I DO think that’s a concern that’s relevant to the topic of this poll.
Theoretically you're right (it would give long-time players and spenders some advantage), but I don't think it would be a significant one.
I can't imagine that there would be high drop rates for legendaries in voyages, even if they were added. I'm thinking more about something in the range of gauntlet drops.
Assuming that they could drop at 8 hours and that all of my voyages will make it to 10, that means that in 12 months I would maybe get 12 legendaries out of voyages. It's very unlikely that I would be able to get any of them from 0 to 5 stars that way. And a 1/5* or 2/5* of them in my crew makes little difference for me in events. Getting one of them from 3/5* to 4/5* or 5/5* also makes little difference.
I'm already able to rank in the top 1500 at every event I want to, just by having almost all existing super-rares immortal. Having Chaotica at 5/5* instead of 3/5* in a faction event with a Hologram bonus, would maybe allow me to save a couple of time boosts, but nothing more. I'm not even sure that Enterprise E Picard at 1/5* or 2/5* would even make it on my shuttles.
For a big spender it would probably have 0 impact on their game and there's a chance they wouldn't even unfreeze those characters.
In the long term, if we're talking 2 or 3 years, it would probably make some difference, but in that same time I will get dozens other and stronger legendaries out of event ranking, mega events, portal pulls, gifts, gauntlet drops. Anyone who starts to play 3 or 4 years later has a huge disadvantage anyway, no matter if I have a few more weak lengendaries in my crew.
I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
So far in this thread, I’ve been called paranoid, and hyperbolic, but I really think my concerns are valid, and I’ll take one more stab at explaining WHY I think they’re valid.
Enterprise E Picard was one of my first immortal legendarys. He’s widely considered to be a weak card. However, he still comes in pretty handy during Picard faction events. A LOT of those weak old cards that people want added to voyages ALSO happen to be main cast cards that come up often in events. And at 1-3/5*, they aren’t much, if any, use to most of us in events, and they’re weak enough that we aren’t going to cite them up so that they become useful in events.
But if spenders can suddenly start adding a lot more stars to those older main cast legendarys at a disproportionate rate to non spenders, I don’t see how that COULDN’T affect event rankings, at least in faction events. Maybe I’m wrong, and if anyone sees a flaw in my logic, please point it out (you don’t need to insult me to do that, btw.)
But the way I see it, it would inevitably make competing in faction events even more difficult than they already are for free/low spenders. And I DO think that’s a concern that’s relevant to the topic of this poll.
Because spenders already have a deep pool of faction relevant crew. I have Enterprise E Picard fully fused despite the fact that he's a terrible card. And I am not a big spender. If anything, medium spenders hit hard walls on roster depth and end up freezing or just not using their depth because they don't want to buy the crew space or the extra shuttles to use it.
But the main reason the above solution is not the 'solution' is that DB are not going to give away Legendaries that easily because it doesn't drive any revenue. Why would they do that? It makes no sense.
Everything about this game (and pretty much all computer games with microtransactions) is driven by what can I get my employees to work on that will drive revenue. PvP games, where the player is the product and P2W is more dubious tend to sell cosmetic items. PvE games tend to sell power, because the P2W element is less important. Guess what this games sells? Event advantage (dilithium, shuttle boosts, extra shuttles, chrons etc), and stronger rosters. This isn't unfair because it allows new players to compete if they want to. They just have to pay to do it. Or you can pay to increase the underlying strength of your roster. Also a completely valid strategy. If you are a free player there is a path to some of the former and all of the latter but it takes time and patience, and you are essentially playing a different style of game with much lower expectations on average (this doesn't mean that a VIP0 can't compete, it just means it's harder and possibly impossible to do consistently).
(It's also worth noting that this game sells lots of crap characters that are essentially space barbie and that's cool too. I just think they shouldn't be the same price as the good stuff.)
As far as insulting you, you entered this thread (and have entered others like it over time) claiming that some payers are trying to skew the game to their advantage as if it's some kind of oligarchic conspiracy. You are the tinfoil hat wearer here. I for one care about the game and just want it to continue. I am willing to pay to make that happen. Don't paint me as the enemy because I am willing to do that.
You’re insulting me for statements I didn’t make. You made them and you’re trying to pass them off like I did.
I never said there was a conspiracy, oligarchic or otherwise. You said, “I for one care about the game and just want it to continue.” Were you implying that I don’t? I actually care about that too. I just don’t think that a social game based on fleets of players is going to survive without... fleets of players (i.e. the value of low/non spenders isn’t zero).
I actually think we’ve already reached a critical point where we have players leaving a LOT faster than they’re coming in. I think it was already happening but the recent economic downturn caused by Covid accelerated it. And yes, I think making it easier for newer players to be competitive WITHOUT spending an absurd amount of money right out of the gate is probably the only way TP is gonna get new players to stay. And even that I think is a Hail Mary at this point. I think that was something that should’ve been addressed like a year ago when the number of players really began to drop. I advocated for it then too.
I didn’t paint you or anybody else anything. Which is lucky for you, because I’m a painter, and I would’ve billed you for it. Nobody would’ve done a better job though.
I don’t usually wear hats either. When I do, I wear a fitted baseball cap (cotton probably, definitely not tinfoil.)
I view most of these suggestions (intentionally or not) as whales of various sizes looking for a way to gain an advantage over everyone else, and justifying it by saying they would pay for it.
This is just the example from this thread. You suggest that some people may be intentionally trying to use this idea to get an advantage. I genuinely don't think that is happening. This isn't the first time you've entered a thread and claimed that there are people in the community trying to get an advantage over you.
I agree with you that people have been leaving the games in large numbers. However I think that many of the people who used to keep the game alive have left because they ran out of things to spend money on. I play a lot of games and this game is the only one that just fizzles out because after a while you basically have everything you need.
This is because under DBs leadership they decided to kill further development and just milk the players dry, and have been doing that for years now. I have hope that Tilting Point have an interest in building us a brighter future and so I support that, but make no mistake, TP have to monetise whatever development they undertake.
Personally, I now totally object to all quality of life nonsense and bug fixing development. To me that has become a sign of a developer out of ideas or money. You push the game forward and you create new experiences for players to get excited about. If you stand still, the players just move on. Voyages were the last major new game development and it was fantastic, they've been riding it's coat tails for 3 years now.
This game either evolves and draws players back or it will die. I don't want it to die. Giving away legendaries to people who run a 4hr voyage is not going to help them raise any money. But improving the quality of the premium packs might.
I'm all for adding older, weak legendaries to voyages, and fine with removing them from the portal to improve drop rates on newer cards, but ONLY if they have the same drop chance throughout the voyage.
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
But the main reason the above solution is not the 'solution' is that DB are not going to give away Legendaries that easily because it doesn't drive any revenue. Why would they do that? It makes no sense.
A couple thoughts on how this could drive revenue:
- Removing these old cards from the portal, (whole keeping them accessible through voyage drops) makes the portal better for everyone, increasing motivation to buy packs, for old and new players alike.
- If an old low stat legendary drops, and it's got a decent chance to drop again, I'm more motivated to keep it and take up a crew slot. Sooner or later, that is likely to mean buying more crew slots.
- For newer or more casual players, those older cards can be genuinely helpful, and having one drop is a pretty exciting moment. A player who's excited about the game is more likely to stay engaged than one who feels like all the best parts of the game are out of reach. More engaged = more likely to drop a few dollars.
- Even players who don't need/wasn't the old cards will appreciate the bonus honor, (and of course the portal improvement). Again, happy players = players more likely to spend.
At the moment their are to many Legendary crew in the portal. So taking 20 of the weakest legendary out would help but I would like to still able immortise the weakest Legendary crew I already own. So how about putting these Legendary crew into another portal pack. You get a token from doing well in an event. You then use this token to get the pack.
It seems so many people still want the old cards, so I'd love to see two portal packs. One with everything two years old or newer. And a second with the older cards. Portal pack pulls could be used for either pack. But the odds for pulling a 4* or 5* from the older pack could be improved a bit to make up for the generally poorer stats.
It seems so many people still want the old cards, so I'd love to see two portal packs. One with everything two years old or newer. And a second with the older cards. Portal pack pulls could be used for either pack. But the odds for pulling a 4* or 5* from the older pack could be improved a bit to make up for the generally poorer stats.
I view most of these suggestions (intentionally or not) as whales of various sizes looking for a way to gain an advantage over everyone else, and justifying it by saying they would pay for it.
This is just the example from this thread. You suggest that some people may be intentionally trying to use this idea to get an advantage. I genuinely don't think that is happening. This isn't the first time you've entered a thread and claimed that there are people in the community trying to get an advantage over you.
I agree with you that people have been leaving the games in large numbers. However I think that many of the people who used to keep the game alive have left because they ran out of things to spend money on. I play a lot of games and this game is the only one that just fizzles out because after a while you basically have everything you need.
This is because under DBs leadership they decided to kill further development and just milk the players dry, and have been doing that for years now. I have hope that Tilting Point have an interest in building us a brighter future and so I support that, but make no mistake, TP have to monetise whatever development they undertake.
Personally, I now totally object to all quality of life nonsense and bug fixing development. To me that has become a sign of a developer out of ideas or money. You push the game forward and you create new experiences for players to get excited about. If you stand still, the players just move on. Voyages were the last major new game development and it was fantastic, they've been riding it's coat tails for 3 years now.
This game either evolves and draws players back or it will die. I don't want it to die. Giving away legendaries to people who run a 4hr voyage is not going to help them raise any money. But improving the quality of the premium packs might.
I already said why I think it would give spenders an overwhelming advantage. “Intentionally or not” didn’t mean that I thought there were a group of players in black suits in a dark smoky room twirling their evil mustaches and rubbing their hands together (I mean, MAYBE there are, but I kinda doubt it.) Just that the result would basically have the same effect.
FWIW, I think we’re largely in agreement about the state of the game. I just think we disagree about the cure. Most people here seem overly focused on the profitability of the game without seriously considering how much fun it’s going to be while we all watch our fleets dwindle faster and faster.
I also agree with you that these problems weren’t caused by TP. They were caused by DB. Maybe TP intended to fix that (I have to assume that was their intent), but the Covid financial crisis has certainly made it a much more immediate problem that needs to be tackled.
I’m not saying that adding old legendarys to voyages is the silver bullet to this problem. Maybe it’s too little, too late. Maybe it would help. The truth is, I really don’t know. I have another idea of how they might be able to level the playing field for newer players but it doesn’t belong here.
I realize this poll didn’t quite go in the direction the OP expected, but that tends to be the way things go here. Each part of the game is connected to the other parts of the game. A change like the OP presented would almost certainly change the dynamic of other aspects of the game. I just think it’s important to discuss the potential consequences of those changes so people consider factors they might not have considered otherwise and weigh the pros and cons.
I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers or make anyone feel attacked for spending. That’s not my stance in any way, shape or form. I’m not oblivious to the fact that the game needs to be profitable to survive. But I also think there needs to be some kind of balance if we actually want new players to stick around, and I think the game has been really unbalanced in that regard. Maybe you (guys) disagree with that, and that’s fine. But I’m entitled to my opinion just the same as you guys.
I’d love to see TP make money hand over fist. I just don’t see how that’s gonna happen with players dropping out left and right, and no way for newer players to catch up without spending a fortune. On the other hand, if enough players quit, they won’t need to spend a fortune to catch up. That doesn’t seem like the optimal solution to this problem. But is that inevitably the way it’s gonna play out? I hope not. Believe it or not, I do care about the game, and I wanna see it continue. I don’t take unpopular stances on things here just to be contrary. I do it because I see them as a detriment to the health of the game and I don’t see many people addressing them. It’s hard to fix a problem if people refuse to acknowledge that the problem exists.
I’m gonna go ahead and vote “maybe” on this poll. One thing that has successfully been highlighted by the comments here is that there are just WAY to many unknown variables in the ways this could be implemented to come to a hard yes or no answer. We seem to have vastly different ideas about drop rates, ranging from roughly the same as gauntlet (which I think would infuriate people), to fixed dilemmas, to sometime after 8-10 hours. Personally, I was imagining it as something like super rare drops now. I would almost think they’d HAVE to be to justify also removing them from the portal. This might be a case where HOW it’s done is every bit as important as IF it’s done.
I view most of these suggestions (intentionally or not) as whales of various sizes looking for a way to gain an advantage over everyone else, and justifying it by saying they would pay for it.
This is just the example from this thread. You suggest that some people may be intentionally trying to use this idea to get an advantage. I genuinely don't think that is happening. This isn't the first time you've entered a thread and claimed that there are people in the community trying to get an advantage over you.
I agree with you that people have been leaving the games in large numbers. However I think that many of the people who used to keep the game alive have left because they ran out of things to spend money on. I play a lot of games and this game is the only one that just fizzles out because after a while you basically have everything you need.
This is because under DBs leadership they decided to kill further development and just milk the players dry, and have been doing that for years now. I have hope that Tilting Point have an interest in building us a brighter future and so I support that, but make no mistake, TP have to monetise whatever development they undertake.
Personally, I now totally object to all quality of life nonsense and bug fixing development. To me that has become a sign of a developer out of ideas or money. You push the game forward and you create new experiences for players to get excited about. If you stand still, the players just move on. Voyages were the last major new game development and it was fantastic, they've been riding it's coat tails for 3 years now.
This game either evolves and draws players back or it will die. I don't want it to die. Giving away legendaries to people who run a 4hr voyage is not going to help them raise any money. But improving the quality of the premium packs might.
I already said why I think it would give spenders an overwhelming advantage. “Intentionally or not” didn’t mean that I thought there were a group of players in black suits in a dark smoky room twirling their evil mustaches and rubbing their hands together (I mean, MAYBE there are, but I kinda doubt it.) Just that the result would basically have the same effect.
FWIW, I think we’re largely in agreement about the state of the game. I just think we disagree about the cure. Most people here seem overly focused on the profitability of the game without seriously considering how much fun it’s going to be while we all watch our fleets dwindle faster and faster.
I also agree with you that these problems weren’t caused by TP. They were caused by DB. Maybe TP intended to fix that (I have to assume that was their intent), but the Covid financial crisis has certainly made it a much more immediate problem that needs to be tackled.
I’m not saying that adding old legendarys to voyages is the silver bullet to this problem. Maybe it’s too little, too late. Maybe it would help. The truth is, I really don’t know. I have another idea of how they might be able to level the playing field for newer players but it doesn’t belong here.
I realize this poll didn’t quite go in the direction the OP expected, but that tends to be the way things go here. Each part of the game is connected to the other parts of the game. A change like the OP presented would almost certainly change the dynamic of other aspects of the game. I just think it’s important to discuss the potential consequences of those changes so people consider factors they might not have considered otherwise and weigh the pros and cons.
I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers or make anyone feel attacked for spending. That’s not my stance in any way, shape or form. I’m not oblivious to the fact that the game needs to be profitable to survive. But I also think there needs to be some kind of balance if we actually want new players to stick around, and I think the game has been really unbalanced in that regard. Maybe you (guys) disagree with that, and that’s fine. But I’m entitled to my opinion just the same as you guys.
I’d love to see TP make money hand over fist. I just don’t see how that’s gonna happen with players dropping out left and right, and no way for newer players to catch up without spending a fortune. On the other hand, if enough players quit, they won’t need to spend a fortune to catch up. That doesn’t seem like the optimal solution to this problem. But is that inevitably the way it’s gonna play out? I hope not. Believe it or not, I do care about the game, and I wanna see it continue. I don’t take unpopular stances on things here just to be contrary. I do it because I see them as a detriment to the health of the game and I don’t see many people addressing them. It’s hard to fix a problem if people refuse to acknowledge that the problem exists.
I’m gonna go ahead and vote “maybe” on this poll. One thing that has successfully been highlighted by the comments here is that there are just WAY to many unknown variables in the ways this could be implemented to come to a hard yes or no answer. We seem to have vastly different ideas about drop rates, ranging from roughly the same as gauntlet (which I think would infuriate people), to fixed dilemmas, to sometime after 8-10 hours. Personally, I was imagining it as something like super rare drops now. I would almost think they’d HAVE to be to justify also removing them from the portal. This might be a case where HOW it’s done is every bit as important as IF it’s done.
We seem to have vastly different ideas about drop rates, ranging from roughly the same as gauntlet (which I think would infuriate people), to fixed dilemmas, to sometime after 8-10 hours. Personally, I was imagining it as something like super rare drops now. I would almost think they’d HAVE to be to justify also removing them from the portal. This might be a case where HOW it’s done is every bit as important as IF it’s done.
If they dropped like super-rares, then yes, I agree with you. That would probably create some serious imbalance. But I can't imagine TP letting legendaries drop at those rates (almost) for free. And even with low drop rates, the chances would still be better than those of obtaining them from the portal (especially if you consider that with voyages they would drop for free or almost for free, if we think of refreshing a voyage once for about 100 dilithium).
But I agree that they should still be available in some other form too. Maybe in a separate part of the portal, in dedicated packs or in the faction stores. I have no specific idea on how that should be done (that's something TP/WR would need to figure out) but I'm convinced that the portal pool should be split up and that weaker/older legendaries should be somewhat easier and/or cheaper to obtain.
This is therefore basically a rehash of the Decrepit Legendaries discussion ... so you get solutions like (and I'm repeating myself here, because some of this was stated on pg 1 of this thread)
- Splitting the portal into various "ages" - e.g. behold pulls from a select year - this has already been implemented a bit through the newer birthday pulls.
- Adding 1 * of older crew to relevant events at the end of thresholds.
- Switching out the monthly 4* with 4 consecutive months giving 1 5* (e.g. Shinzon 4 times in a row) ... as many feel the older 5*s to be on par with 4*s.
- Discounted Honor Hall options for crew from specific years.
- Adding 5*s as random (limited!) drops from voyages after 10 hrs.
etc. etc. etc.
You can't just remove cards from the portal and leave acquisition down to randomness without choice (I can still choose in a crappy begold) ... especially because you'll make it all but impossible to complete some of the collections (just from 2016 alone ... Originals - Aviator Yar, 23rd Martok; Chaotica; Sherwood; Holodeck Enthusiasts (3 crew!); Age of Sail; Wild West; Bashir, Delphic Expanse ...) and that is already difficult as is.
So, there needs to be compensation for removing from the general portal to deal with the various side effects of doing so.
Not sure if this has been said, but it's worth a look. Another F2P game I play (Dragonball Legends) has legacy packs for getting older characters. They call them master packs and offer up occasionally pulls from daily rewards to try from them.
So what Timelines could do is say offer Year 1 golds in a "Early Federation" pack for the usual 650, then remove those cards from the normal portal. Then occasionally give away a single pull in dailies or in other ways to players. These pulls would then have a chance of getting any crew from 2016/2017 from 3-5* (obv weighted appropriately) and not clutter up the existing portal.
Then later on release a Year 2 pack with a similar feature. I think atm DBL has 3 masters packs out at the moment and give away Pack 2-3 pulls with daily missions as well as other threshold rewards. Most of the time you get nothing from it but occasionally a Sparking (DBL gold equiv) drops out.
On one hand, Golds are a large percentage of the available crew, but with the lowest odds of getting them. Splitting them up could be a good thing, but removing them from premium packs could be a hindrance.
I like the idea of adding them to the Voyages, but a lot of people still want them, so they should stay in the portal, UNLESS they find another outlet.
A mid-range portal, making three instead of two- like the boosts, is one option.
Adding them to any rerun/flashback of their event is another.
OTHERS
A monthly pack(s) featuring crew released that month in X year.
Rotating Temporary achievements - Pick a theme and a couple crew that go with it. Attach them to month long achievements, with tiers granting up to five copies, if you work at it. Earn/keep how many ever you want. Maybe pick ones for July that might help in the August mega or those played by an actor that died a month or so before. Have a poll of our most wanted older crew periodically and do a couple of those.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
On one hand, Golds are a large percentage of the available crew, but with the lowest odds of getting them. Splitting them up could be a good thing, but removing them from premium packs could be a hindrance.
I like the idea of adding them to the Voyages, but a lot of people still want them, so they should stay in the portal, UNLESS they find another outlet.
A mid-range portal, making three instead of two- like the boosts, is one option.
Adding them to any rerun/flashback of their event is another.
OTHERS
A monthly pack(s) featuring crew released that month in X year.
Rotating Temporary achievements - Pick a theme and a couple crew that go with it. Attach them to month long achievements, with tiers granting up to five copies, if you work at it. Earn/keep how many ever you want. Maybe pick ones for July that might help in the August mega or those played by an actor that died a month or so before. Have a poll of our most wanted older crew periodically and do a couple of those.
You have a lot of good ideas. Thank you for contributing to the STT community. 🖖
"In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it's us players who define the game." — Nicky Case, The Evolution of Trust
Adding to Voyages is fine, removing from Portal is not; that would only benefit more veteran players, not the entire community.
Completely disagree with this. A lot of older crew are a trap for resources for newer players. A lot of older crew are basically useless except for events after you've been playing for a modest amount of time. It would be a lot better for newer players to have increased probability of getting better crew.
Part of game play is nostalgic and aesthetic enjoyment - there are older, power-creeped gold cards which are iconic characters that new players might like the opportunity to have on their roster.
For example, my first ever Gold was Wrathful Khan, and while he almost never gets used now, is still one of my favorites, as it’s my top Trek film and a regular cosplay.
I would prefer to have decrepit citations being rewarded from various sources including voyages. This would enable finishing specific crew without flooding the quarters with further 1/5s which stay that way forever. The citations could be year-bound (e.g. "Use only with crew from 2017 or older" up to "2020 or older". Btw this would also make citaton hoarding during honor sales less attractive if the citations lost versatility over time.
I agree with many here that old legendaries have to remain obtainable via pulls but would also like to see separated packs with different price tags.
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
@~peregrine~ My mother has a rule about complaining. If you aren't going to try to fix something, you don't get to complain about it. I am easily annoyed and have OCD. I complain a lot, therefore I learned to come up with ideas. (That and buy tools and materials when there is a sale, because I'm going to be the one fixing it probably, lol. I have a shopping list that makes weak men cry. [Parts for a dozen vehicles/tractors, tools, equipment, building improvements,...money and time are my bane. The internet and how-to books are my friend.])
For everyone else, what change(s) would you pick as the best, not perfect, but a good starting point based on these assumptions:
1.) All crew MUST be available somehow
2.) Criteria should be clear, not up to hard debate
3.) Ideally, based on a combination of existing game mechanics to facilitate it creation.
Brainstorm folks! Come on. If we have a solid proposal, they have to at least consider it.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
I would prefer to have decrepit citations being rewarded from various sources including voyages. This would enable finishing specific crew without flooding the quarters with further 1/5s which stay that way forever. The citations could be year-bound (e.g. "Use only with crew from 2017 or older" up to "2020 or older". Btw this would also make citaton hoarding during honor sales less attractive if the citations lost versatility over time.
I agree with many here that old legendaries have to remain obtainable via pulls but would also like to see separated packs with different price tags.
I feel like that might be difficult to implement for very little returns, but a different solution that would lead to similar results would be if they created a portal pack with some of those characters, then added a pull out of that pack to event rewards or even to voyages or gauntlet.
I think they already did something similar in an event once (with the event pack) but I can't remember the details.
Assuming that the pack offered begolds, it wouldn't really allow to cite up specific crew as with citations, but with a small pool, it would eventually lead to similar results.
However they are incorporated in the game it should be something everyone could benefit from especially since they would be of most help to those just starting out or mid lvl. Maybe they could drop from arena battles at all levels not just epic.
Adding to Voyages is fine, removing from Portal is not; that would only benefit more veteran players, not the entire community.
Completely disagree with this. A lot of older crew are a trap for resources for newer players. A lot of older crew are basically useless except for events after you've been playing for a modest amount of time. It would be a lot better for newer players to have increased probability of getting better crew.
Part of game play is nostalgic and aesthetic enjoyment - there are older, power-creeped gold cards which are iconic characters that new players might like the opportunity to have on their roster.
For example, my first ever Gold was Wrathful Khan, and while he almost never gets used now, is still one of my favorites, as it’s my top Trek film and a regular cosplay.
I'm not saying that they should be removed from availability. I am saying that they should be moved to a different portal pack that is cheaper, because from a gameplay perspective investing in those characters is a distraction. I totally get the space barbie element believe me, I just don't think you should have to pay full price for it.
@~peregrine~ My mother has a rule about complaining. If you aren't going to try to fix something, you don't get to complain about it. I am easily annoyed and have OCD. I complain a lot, therefore I learned to come up with ideas. (That and buy tools and materials when there is a sale, because I'm going to be the one fixing it probably, lol. I have a shopping list that makes weak men cry. [Parts for a dozen vehicles/tractors, tools, equipment, building improvements,...money and time are my bane. The internet and how-to books are my friend.])
For everyone else, what change(s) would you pick as the best, not perfect, but a good starting point based on these assumptions:
1.) All crew MUST be available somehow
2.) Criteria should be clear, not up to hard debate
3.) Ideally, based on a combination of existing game mechanics to facilitate it creation.
Brainstorm folks! Come on. If we have a solid proposal, they have to at least consider it.
Done. Take older crew out of the premium portal packs. Move that pool of older cards into a Classic Pack that is priced at 490 dil always. Have separate cheaper offers for those packs and add them to lower thresholds to make them easier to get for newer players. No new tech required. Improves Premium packs which would veteran players interested in buying them again and keeps everything available at fairer price points.
Comments
Players who run long voyages already get extras that newer/ more casual players don't, and that won't change. But those older cards won't have much real impact for those hard-core players, beyond a bit of fun, (working on collections, slightly more honor than airlocking a 4*... but that's about it).
For newer and more casual players, they'll be getting them less often, (shorter voyages) but those fewer drops could be genuinely helpful to them, to about the same level as a strong 4*.
It would help spice up voyages again (for all players), help with the portal issue (for all players), and because we're talking about cards no more powerful than good 4* crew, there is nothing remotely game-breaking.
If the drops would only start at ten hours in this scenario, or even 8, my vote is no. That would only make them even harder to get than they already are.
Which would increase their value.
No to removal from portal. I rely upon HH Begolds to finish old 5 stars.
I think my longest is 11 hrs 2 mins. Only happened once, but I've had a fair few natural 10s.
Since we're talking about old, low-stat cards, "harder to get" doesn't make them more valuable, just more likely to sit at 1\5 indefinitely, taking up space.
If there's little hope of seeing another copy, that kind of card becomes less valuable, just a waste of space.
This is by far the best solution I’ve heard for this hypothetical situation, and I would totally support it. It would benefit spenders and non spenders in a way that wouldn’t overwhelmingly give spenders a game breaking advantage.
So far in this thread, I’ve been called paranoid, and hyperbolic, but I really think my concerns are valid, and I’ll take one more stab at explaining WHY I think they’re valid.
Enterprise E Picard was one of my first immortal legendarys. He’s widely considered to be a weak card. However, he still comes in pretty handy during Picard faction events. A LOT of those weak old cards that people want added to voyages ALSO happen to be main cast cards that come up often in events. And at 1-3/5*, they aren’t much, if any, use to most of us in events, and they’re weak enough that we aren’t going to cite them up so that they become useful in events.
But if spenders can suddenly start adding a lot more stars to those older main cast legendarys at a disproportionate rate to non spenders, I don’t see how that COULDN’T affect event rankings, at least in faction events. Maybe I’m wrong, and if anyone sees a flaw in my logic, please point it out (you don’t need to insult me to do that, btw.)
But the way I see it, it would inevitably make competing in faction events even more difficult than they already are for free/low spenders. And I DO think that’s a concern that’s relevant to the topic of this poll.
Because spenders already have a deep pool of faction relevant crew. I have Enterprise E Picard fully fused despite the fact that he's a terrible card. And I am not a big spender. If anything, medium spenders hit hard walls on roster depth and end up freezing or just not using their depth because they don't want to buy the crew space or the extra shuttles to use it.
But the main reason the above solution is not the 'solution' is that DB are not going to give away Legendaries that easily because it doesn't drive any revenue. Why would they do that? It makes no sense.
Everything about this game (and pretty much all computer games with microtransactions) is driven by what can I get my employees to work on that will drive revenue. PvP games, where the player is the product and P2W is more dubious tend to sell cosmetic items. PvE games tend to sell power, because the P2W element is less important. Guess what this games sells? Event advantage (dilithium, shuttle boosts, extra shuttles, chrons etc), and stronger rosters. This isn't unfair because it allows new players to compete if they want to. They just have to pay to do it. Or you can pay to increase the underlying strength of your roster. Also a completely valid strategy. If you are a free player there is a path to some of the former and all of the latter but it takes time and patience, and you are essentially playing a different style of game with much lower expectations on average (this doesn't mean that a VIP0 can't compete, it just means it's harder and possibly impossible to do consistently).
(It's also worth noting that this game sells lots of crap characters that are essentially space barbie and that's cool too. I just think they shouldn't be the same price as the good stuff.)
As far as insulting you, you entered this thread (and have entered others like it over time) claiming that some payers are trying to skew the game to their advantage as if it's some kind of oligarchic conspiracy. You are the tinfoil hat wearer here. I for one care about the game and just want it to continue. I am willing to pay to make that happen. Don't paint me as the enemy because I am willing to do that.
Theoretically you're right (it would give long-time players and spenders some advantage), but I don't think it would be a significant one.
I can't imagine that there would be high drop rates for legendaries in voyages, even if they were added. I'm thinking more about something in the range of gauntlet drops.
Assuming that they could drop at 8 hours and that all of my voyages will make it to 10, that means that in 12 months I would maybe get 12 legendaries out of voyages. It's very unlikely that I would be able to get any of them from 0 to 5 stars that way. And a 1/5* or 2/5* of them in my crew makes little difference for me in events. Getting one of them from 3/5* to 4/5* or 5/5* also makes little difference.
I'm already able to rank in the top 1500 at every event I want to, just by having almost all existing super-rares immortal. Having Chaotica at 5/5* instead of 3/5* in a faction event with a Hologram bonus, would maybe allow me to save a couple of time boosts, but nothing more. I'm not even sure that Enterprise E Picard at 1/5* or 2/5* would even make it on my shuttles.
For a big spender it would probably have 0 impact on their game and there's a chance they wouldn't even unfreeze those characters.
In the long term, if we're talking 2 or 3 years, it would probably make some difference, but in that same time I will get dozens other and stronger legendaries out of event ranking, mega events, portal pulls, gifts, gauntlet drops. Anyone who starts to play 3 or 4 years later has a huge disadvantage anyway, no matter if I have a few more weak lengendaries in my crew.
You’re insulting me for statements I didn’t make. You made them and you’re trying to pass them off like I did.
I never said there was a conspiracy, oligarchic or otherwise. You said, “I for one care about the game and just want it to continue.” Were you implying that I don’t? I actually care about that too. I just don’t think that a social game based on fleets of players is going to survive without... fleets of players (i.e. the value of low/non spenders isn’t zero).
I actually think we’ve already reached a critical point where we have players leaving a LOT faster than they’re coming in. I think it was already happening but the recent economic downturn caused by Covid accelerated it. And yes, I think making it easier for newer players to be competitive WITHOUT spending an absurd amount of money right out of the gate is probably the only way TP is gonna get new players to stay. And even that I think is a Hail Mary at this point. I think that was something that should’ve been addressed like a year ago when the number of players really began to drop. I advocated for it then too.
I didn’t paint you or anybody else anything. Which is lucky for you, because I’m a painter, and I would’ve billed you for it. Nobody would’ve done a better job though.
I don’t usually wear hats either. When I do, I wear a fitted baseball cap (cotton probably, definitely not tinfoil.)
This is just the example from this thread. You suggest that some people may be intentionally trying to use this idea to get an advantage. I genuinely don't think that is happening. This isn't the first time you've entered a thread and claimed that there are people in the community trying to get an advantage over you.
I agree with you that people have been leaving the games in large numbers. However I think that many of the people who used to keep the game alive have left because they ran out of things to spend money on. I play a lot of games and this game is the only one that just fizzles out because after a while you basically have everything you need.
This is because under DBs leadership they decided to kill further development and just milk the players dry, and have been doing that for years now. I have hope that Tilting Point have an interest in building us a brighter future and so I support that, but make no mistake, TP have to monetise whatever development they undertake.
Personally, I now totally object to all quality of life nonsense and bug fixing development. To me that has become a sign of a developer out of ideas or money. You push the game forward and you create new experiences for players to get excited about. If you stand still, the players just move on. Voyages were the last major new game development and it was fantastic, they've been riding it's coat tails for 3 years now.
This game either evolves and draws players back or it will die. I don't want it to die. Giving away legendaries to people who run a 4hr voyage is not going to help them raise any money. But improving the quality of the premium packs might.
A couple thoughts on how this could drive revenue:
- Removing these old cards from the portal, (whole keeping them accessible through voyage drops) makes the portal better for everyone, increasing motivation to buy packs, for old and new players alike.
- If an old low stat legendary drops, and it's got a decent chance to drop again, I'm more motivated to keep it and take up a crew slot. Sooner or later, that is likely to mean buying more crew slots.
- For newer or more casual players, those older cards can be genuinely helpful, and having one drop is a pretty exciting moment. A player who's excited about the game is more likely to stay engaged than one who feels like all the best parts of the game are out of reach. More engaged = more likely to drop a few dollars.
- Even players who don't need/wasn't the old cards will appreciate the bonus honor, (and of course the portal improvement). Again, happy players = players more likely to spend.
I already have done.
Feel free to counter it.
I like this idea a lot.
I already said why I think it would give spenders an overwhelming advantage. “Intentionally or not” didn’t mean that I thought there were a group of players in black suits in a dark smoky room twirling their evil mustaches and rubbing their hands together (I mean, MAYBE there are, but I kinda doubt it.) Just that the result would basically have the same effect.
FWIW, I think we’re largely in agreement about the state of the game. I just think we disagree about the cure. Most people here seem overly focused on the profitability of the game without seriously considering how much fun it’s going to be while we all watch our fleets dwindle faster and faster.
I also agree with you that these problems weren’t caused by TP. They were caused by DB. Maybe TP intended to fix that (I have to assume that was their intent), but the Covid financial crisis has certainly made it a much more immediate problem that needs to be tackled.
I’m not saying that adding old legendarys to voyages is the silver bullet to this problem. Maybe it’s too little, too late. Maybe it would help. The truth is, I really don’t know. I have another idea of how they might be able to level the playing field for newer players but it doesn’t belong here.
I realize this poll didn’t quite go in the direction the OP expected, but that tends to be the way things go here. Each part of the game is connected to the other parts of the game. A change like the OP presented would almost certainly change the dynamic of other aspects of the game. I just think it’s important to discuss the potential consequences of those changes so people consider factors they might not have considered otherwise and weigh the pros and cons.
I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers or make anyone feel attacked for spending. That’s not my stance in any way, shape or form. I’m not oblivious to the fact that the game needs to be profitable to survive. But I also think there needs to be some kind of balance if we actually want new players to stick around, and I think the game has been really unbalanced in that regard. Maybe you (guys) disagree with that, and that’s fine. But I’m entitled to my opinion just the same as you guys.
I’d love to see TP make money hand over fist. I just don’t see how that’s gonna happen with players dropping out left and right, and no way for newer players to catch up without spending a fortune. On the other hand, if enough players quit, they won’t need to spend a fortune to catch up. That doesn’t seem like the optimal solution to this problem. But is that inevitably the way it’s gonna play out? I hope not. Believe it or not, I do care about the game, and I wanna see it continue. I don’t take unpopular stances on things here just to be contrary. I do it because I see them as a detriment to the health of the game and I don’t see many people addressing them. It’s hard to fix a problem if people refuse to acknowledge that the problem exists.
I’m gonna go ahead and vote “maybe” on this poll. One thing that has successfully been highlighted by the comments here is that there are just WAY to many unknown variables in the ways this could be implemented to come to a hard yes or no answer. We seem to have vastly different ideas about drop rates, ranging from roughly the same as gauntlet (which I think would infuriate people), to fixed dilemmas, to sometime after 8-10 hours. Personally, I was imagining it as something like super rare drops now. I would almost think they’d HAVE to be to justify also removing them from the portal. This might be a case where HOW it’s done is every bit as important as IF it’s done.
Fair.
If they dropped like super-rares, then yes, I agree with you. That would probably create some serious imbalance. But I can't imagine TP letting legendaries drop at those rates (almost) for free. And even with low drop rates, the chances would still be better than those of obtaining them from the portal (especially if you consider that with voyages they would drop for free or almost for free, if we think of refreshing a voyage once for about 100 dilithium).
But I agree that they should still be available in some other form too. Maybe in a separate part of the portal, in dedicated packs or in the faction stores. I have no specific idea on how that should be done (that's something TP/WR would need to figure out) but I'm convinced that the portal pool should be split up and that weaker/older legendaries should be somewhat easier and/or cheaper to obtain.
- Splitting the portal into various "ages" - e.g. behold pulls from a select year - this has already been implemented a bit through the newer birthday pulls.
- Adding 1 * of older crew to relevant events at the end of thresholds.
- Switching out the monthly 4* with 4 consecutive months giving 1 5* (e.g. Shinzon 4 times in a row) ... as many feel the older 5*s to be on par with 4*s.
- Discounted Honor Hall options for crew from specific years.
- Adding 5*s as random (limited!) drops from voyages after 10 hrs.
etc. etc. etc.
You can't just remove cards from the portal and leave acquisition down to randomness without choice (I can still choose in a crappy begold) ... especially because you'll make it all but impossible to complete some of the collections (just from 2016 alone ... Originals - Aviator Yar, 23rd Martok; Chaotica; Sherwood; Holodeck Enthusiasts (3 crew!); Age of Sail; Wild West; Bashir, Delphic Expanse ...) and that is already difficult as is.
So, there needs to be compensation for removing from the general portal to deal with the various side effects of doing so.
So what Timelines could do is say offer Year 1 golds in a "Early Federation" pack for the usual 650, then remove those cards from the normal portal. Then occasionally give away a single pull in dailies or in other ways to players. These pulls would then have a chance of getting any crew from 2016/2017 from 3-5* (obv weighted appropriately) and not clutter up the existing portal.
Then later on release a Year 2 pack with a similar feature. I think atm DBL has 3 masters packs out at the moment and give away Pack 2-3 pulls with daily missions as well as other threshold rewards. Most of the time you get nothing from it but occasionally a Sparking (DBL gold equiv) drops out.
Anyway, my 2 pence...
I like the idea of adding them to the Voyages, but a lot of people still want them, so they should stay in the portal, UNLESS they find another outlet.
A mid-range portal, making three instead of two- like the boosts, is one option.
Adding them to any rerun/flashback of their event is another.
OTHERS
A monthly pack(s) featuring crew released that month in X year.
Rotating Temporary achievements - Pick a theme and a couple crew that go with it. Attach them to month long achievements, with tiers granting up to five copies, if you work at it. Earn/keep how many ever you want. Maybe pick ones for July that might help in the August mega or those played by an actor that died a month or so before. Have a poll of our most wanted older crew periodically and do a couple of those.
You have a lot of good ideas. Thank you for contributing to the STT community. 🖖
For example, my first ever Gold was Wrathful Khan, and while he almost never gets used now, is still one of my favorites, as it’s my top Trek film and a regular cosplay.
I agree with many here that old legendaries have to remain obtainable via pulls but would also like to see separated packs with different price tags.
For everyone else, what change(s) would you pick as the best, not perfect, but a good starting point based on these assumptions:
1.) All crew MUST be available somehow
2.) Criteria should be clear, not up to hard debate
3.) Ideally, based on a combination of existing game mechanics to facilitate it creation.
Brainstorm folks! Come on. If we have a solid proposal, they have to at least consider it.
I feel like that might be difficult to implement for very little returns, but a different solution that would lead to similar results would be if they created a portal pack with some of those characters, then added a pull out of that pack to event rewards or even to voyages or gauntlet.
I think they already did something similar in an event once (with the event pack) but I can't remember the details.
Assuming that the pack offered begolds, it wouldn't really allow to cite up specific crew as with citations, but with a small pool, it would eventually lead to similar results.
I'm not saying that they should be removed from availability. I am saying that they should be moved to a different portal pack that is cheaper, because from a gameplay perspective investing in those characters is a distraction. I totally get the space barbie element believe me, I just don't think you should have to pay full price for it.
Done. Take older crew out of the premium portal packs. Move that pool of older cards into a Classic Pack that is priced at 490 dil always. Have separate cheaper offers for those packs and add them to lower thresholds to make them easier to get for newer players. No new tech required. Improves Premium packs which would veteran players interested in buying them again and keeps everything available at fairer price points.