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Has any thought been given to some sort of trading mechanism for characters?
earthman34
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in The Bridge
Or is that considered too game-breaking? Could we trade a surplus 4 star for a one star we don't have, for example?
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Here is one old thread on the subject.
https://forums.disruptorbeam.com/stt/viewthread/62985
Keep in mind imbalanced trades are not going to work. Because one account gains substantially and the other loses
Proud member of Patterns of Force
Captain Level 99
Played since January 2017
TP: Do better!!!
Too bad it feels like TP will only make changes and add new features that have something to do with spending, not something that the community would actually want or has been asking for 🖖
Proud member of Patterns of Force
Captain Level 99
Played since January 2017
TP: Do better!!!
I would greatly appreciate them being able to keep voyages from getting stuck.
Edit: I will add one thing on a market system. Any trading should be done through a different client. Only one account can be open by any client. So if the game Ap is open, it closes. This happens when you have two devices and try to access the same account on those two devices.
There are ways to mitigate these problems, but they typically make the system less convenient. "No trading below level 30" makes it hard to abuse alts. "No trading with someone unless you've been friends/fleetmates for 2+ week" and "only one trade per week" makes hacking and other abuse more difficult. Lots of little tricks like this . . . but these complexities adds up.
Personally, I'd be in favor of restricting folks to 1-to-1 trades. You can trade a 1/5 legendary only for another 1/5 legendary, not a 2/5 or a SR or whatever else. This can make it easier for folks to get the crew the way, and to consolidate a sea of 1/5s into a few FF crew they like. It also limits unsavory wheeling and dealing.
On the other hand, if folks are easily able to get all the crew they want, the game would probably die. And how does STT make money off of this system (which, as I noted, cost a tremendous amount to develope). They'd probably need to introduce "ultra rare foil versions" of crew, or a new currency used to fund trades.
Ultimately, I don't don't think the disruption and development would be worthwhile. There are probably better ways to increase community engagement, and make it easier to get crew folks want.
Starport
Only allowing the trade of 5 of them a day between players.
Maybe components too, and 5 of them a day.
I do not see any problem with trading one star crew. However, stargazer Picard should not be included.
Perhaps they could call it... quantum currency?
Yes something like this would be the easiest to implement and not allow any cheating. Players can go to an exchange and trade with the game. Allow the exchange of one legendary for another, one super rare for another. If your legendary is 3/5 then you could get a 3/5 of the other legendary in return. If need be TP could attach a small dilithium cost/credits/merits to it. I think it would increase the participation in events and pack buying. TP could have a couple of legendaries and super rares that rotate out every day or week.
I sometimes play the virtual CCG version of Elder Scrolls and there is lots of trading in it. You get achievements and ranks for it. Still plenty of sales happening there.
Cycling cards into the fridge clears slots and opens them for buying new cards. The crew slot system and the lack of trading leaves most accounts in their first two years with almost no where to put a new card. I don't buy anything because there is no where to put anything. I would argue not having a trading system actually causes them to loose income. I have very little income left over to spend on this game. I can't drop hundreds of dollars a week to clear FF every gold card. For this reason I have actually stopped even going after skirmish Golds. Every gold is a lost slot. There is no point dropping cash for event deals because ranking either forces you to airlock a card you might otherwise have kept, or to hold onto cards that slowly strangle your ability to carry and build SR cards. I can't drop the cash for a few packs. Only opening a few leaves you with multiple cards that could take six months to years to ever get the last card or to to FF it. For this reason I never open event packs. Event cards are a minimum 6 months before they enter the portal.
Spending on this game would make the game harder for me because I can't afford to keep spending until the card is finished. The same for the offers. I don't buy them because I have to keep crew slots free. If the crew slot limit didn't exist, or if I could trade cards I might be able to spend more. I can't speak for every one, but in my case they are definitely missing out on income because they are trying too hard to focus directly on it. I think the paranoia and focus on purchase only is probably costing them as much as they gain at the very least. The loss of players due to the frustration of crew management is also potentially lost revenue.
I think even a limited trading system would actually make them money. A free trade (crew transfer request) a week within your fleet, with the ability to buy an extra trade ticket or two with dilithium would certainly mitigate any losses. And open slots means more people playing and spending on the events themselves. The fear of lost money is causing lost money.
I don't think it would decrease their revenue. Those of us who aren't willing to spend 50$/€ or 15000 dilithium to acquire a 1/5* won't do it anyway.
I also don't think that it would devalue legendaries and dilithium any more than those two things have already been devalued by the game mechanics themselves.
Plus, thinking of it, the easiest way to implement some apparent "trade" feature would probably be to use the faction stores. I guess there aren't many people who actually purchase legendaries from there, but the option already exists. They would just have to change the purchase method/currency.
How could that even happen if the "trades" were not between players, but between a player and the game?
* asked for by players for a long time
* big change
* introduces new currency: "quantum currency" and "interstellar medium"
* will help to obtain crew
(from summary of timelines talks)
I could see quantum currency being gained via running missions, similar to the 'currencies' required to upgrade starbases, which could be used to purchase crew. I don't see any sort of player-to-player crew trading system being implemented, as that would serve to devalue so many aspects of the game that have been established over the years.
If the transaction is between the player and the game, what makes it a trade vs a purchase? Exchanging resources (cards, honor, new currencies) for a specific card. It's effectively the same thing as buying a card from faction store. The only difference is the type and quantity of resources exchanged.
It would be different if the crew that is on offer by the game would be originating from other players selling crew to the game.
That way it would be a market where players trade with eachother but always through a middle man. It would make it impossible to trade with your alt because you wouldn't know wich player would buy the crew you sell to the game. And it could further function as a market if the price of the specific crew would be determined by what players want to sell it for and by what other players are willing to pay for it.
That way the price for a Shinzon could be somewhat low whereas a Gary Seven would be extremely expensive since hardly anyone would sell and many would be willing to buy.
That's why I put it in quotation marks. I think the main reason people want a trading system isn't the community-building aspect (which could also be nice) but the fact that one of the most frustrating aspects of the game is the high likelihood of ending up with unwanted and useless legendaries, worth only 550 honor, despite the fact that their drops are rare and they're considered premium content. Another annoying thing, especially for new players I suppose, is how hard it is to get crew you actually need or want from a very inflated portal.
Being able to get crew at a discounted price (whatever that might be) by sacrificing a copy of another card in your roster, would mitigate both those problems. And assuming that the crew available for "trade" would be limited and change over time, it would create anticipation and probably require resource management, if other currencies are involved. Anticipation is something that a lot of long-time players are missing.
So I think that it could be a good and safe option to implement this kind of feature. And for players it wouldn't be the same thing as simply spending 14000 dilithium on Dabo, 15000 in the faction store or 10€ on an LTO.
But beyond that, it would require TP makes a determination once and for all that this game boils down to be a CCG. On the one hand, we all know it is, but there remain enough road blocks and issues when it comes to cars obtainment and storage that I'm still not convinced that a ccg is what they want to be considered.
You place the card you wish to sell on the market.
You cannot use that card for anything (shuttles, gauntlet, ...) while it is on auction.
You define price, but it cannot be lower of some systemically determined minimum price.
Sales last for 1 day (just example, this can be longer, or shorter).
Anyone can bid on that card and after the auction time is over, card is sold and removed from your roster.
So how to avoid abuse:
When placing a card there is no info about seller on the card or any other info that you can write. Just the price. - So you cannot buy from your alt account or another player from the fleet. Price will change when first bid is on, so you can't even search for that.
You can buy or sell (not both) just 1 card per week.
The game itself ads 1000'r of random cards with some prices in the auction. - You can buy them, but nobody gets the money except the game itself.
It they addressed the bold, there would be [almost] no need for a crew store or trading. Essentially were are trading crew we don't want for crew we do want (to add stars to), via honor.
Current trade exchange rates:
- 4*: 90 crew traded in = 1 crew citation (18,000 / 200)
- 5*: 91 crew traded in = 1 crew citation (50,000 / 550)
It is crazy that we need to trade in 90 of the same level crew for a single crew we want. Even then it's only adding stars to an existing crew member, not acquiring a new crew that we don't yet have, which is especially tricky when trying to track down the few missing 4* crew that were originally added to the game via Tuesday packs.
That actually was the whole point of honor and citations.
Edit:I always felt the price of things for honor were inflated and still do.
I felt that the original thought I had was really too low. And when I thought about events, I realized I was taking the incentive for event offers and packs away. So I think my solution was that things in the honor hall should have been reduced by half of course no change ever happened, but they did give us those sales for honor. I do believe the last occurrence was too recent for there to be an honor sale now though.