This was not a Bank atm, this is not a legalized Casino where slot machines were overridden, its a GAME wherein the Developer erred.
REINSTATE the players, your decision was wrong on this one.
We're starting to lose people - our friends, good people, not cheaters, and your big spenders. Come one. Rethink this. You're in the wrong on this one.
Don't know why you are bothering responding to Shan he was busy personally emailing me and calling me a cheater and said he could lift my ban but since I was "rude" I can sit the whole 72 hours out to "teach me a lesson".
Shan does not send out emails. She is merely the public representative of communication between the player base and TP headquarters on here and the official Facebook page. Blaming her for something she did not do is ironic considering why you are here now in the first place. Also, please provide proof of such a nasty email. Customer service should not be rude like that to those they are interacting with.
There are three ways to do something; the right way, the wrong way, and the Janeway.
TP, this is your mistake. You should not make the players suffer for your mistake. Instead, why not focus your efforts on QA? I will assist you with a test plan for future changes. (no charge!)
1. Does button appear? (yes - continue, no - BUG!)
2. Can button be pressed? (yes - continue, no - BUG!)
3. Is award given? (yes - continue, no - BUG!)
4. Is button still there? (yes - BUG!, no - continue)
Let me know if I can help further.
Have a great day!
I came here to comment something similar -- I just logged in this morning and went to claim the daily pack (mentally I figured, well one it's safer for me to claim once again lest TP change their mind and decide later today that multi-claims in the day actually isn't what they intended, and for my own sense of pack/click-happy it'd be better to spread it out and not all at once).
But I couldn't help noticing... once I click on pack, I see the rewards pop up and the same exact buttons as yesterday.
There is nothing on the purchase screen that says "Hey this pack is designed to limit you to 1 pack per day" or now "19 total pulls". TP seems to have extreme faith that people playing a click-happy game actually read the text (like the emphasis they've put on "look at this engaging story" around CD).
But let's be clear... I see a pack in the portal that has a "claim" button on it, with items that I need for a new feature you've launched, I'm going to click the "claim" button - not read the fine print text.
Once I click on claim, and have access to the "Buy Again" button, some of my currencies are displayed at the top, but I don't pay close enough to those numbers to know if they're changing. Isn't it reasonable of me to assume that clicking "Buy Again" is charging me X amount of credits, merits, honor, or dilithium? And that if I'm dedicated enough to go after the new resources, eventually the "Buy Again" button will stop letting me purchase because I'm out of said currency?
The difference is now, the pack is coded correctly as opposed to a pack that was tossed into the live game without actually checking the code to ensure it worked as intended.
I have NEVER seen a mobile game where the operating strategy has been "let's make everything totally available just by clicks and assume the player will limit themselves." No, the reason limits are in place in any mobile game is because the COMPANY wants to spread out player purchases and player interactions.
So why is it the player fault that they claimed something was available? No player manipulated the code to make the button appear for everyone, used a third party software to access some back-end of the software and open up a loop hole to claim extra times. People just utilized the button that was coded into the game. It doesn't matter if that was the intention behind the button, it doesn't matter if you sat in your conference room at TP headquarters and expected players to honor the text that said "Limit 1" (assuming players trusted the text to be accurate), it's not the player fault that the accident happened in the coding of the button.
Now, I can understand if there were players that spammed the button multiple hundreds of times why this would be alarming and need some sort of corrective action -- but it's appalling that the answer is "let's ban the player for using a button we accidentally put there and miscoded". It's also appalling that the answer is - "let's take away the resources they got from the button" - which is totally fair... "and also anything they had collected through totally intended means prior to the button" - followed by "we'll ban them and then give to all the remaining players what those people got and we took away."
Except, as always, we're not given a complete picture of what happened, why it happened, and why actions need taken. The explanation is convoluted, a knee-jerk reaction from what seems to be a hurt ego that the new "feature" launch over a year in development suddenly didn't roll out exactly as planned.
If there are users that claimed multiple hundreds of times, I agree, actions need to be taken to correct the imbalance, but not punitive ones, because they didn't do anything necessarily maliciously, because they used what was put in front of them. Take advantage of it? Sure. Violate the TOS? Absolutely not.
Except the ban was put in place inconsistently. People who claimed a couple extra times are reporting being banned, people who claimed lots are reporting not being banned. It seems like the intention was "anything over 20 pulls" because 19 is the magic number. But how did that 19 get arrived to? The pack wasn't supposed to be originally available that long (or please correct me if I'm mis-remembering - I thought it was only like 15 days total). If "19 pulls" was the number that was randomly decided to be approved, why not 20, or 30? What's the logic between the random "19" number? How can you sit in the conference room and come to a determination that "this many presses of the button we mis-coded is fine, but this many is not".
Once again, after time and again of the last months, it's the lack of transparency in communication that is at biggest fault in absolutely destroying whatever minimal trust has been left in the game community.
I already want to sarcastically post in every event thread and ask "hey, is this gold reward going to be the actual gold reward?" And now you have me hesitating on EVERY button push on a pack wondering if the button I clearly see available to me is on purpose and working as intended or if I'll have some ridiculous punishment lauded down from on high.
And now TP's in a terrible position -- realize they over reacted and relax the ban but then open up to MAJOR issues with event scores and ranks being out of balance -- or hold fast to their line and show their "strength" but lose significant trust and player numbers in the process - while also opening up to what I can only assume is a mountain of CS tickets this morning about lost items that were pulled in the quick reaction, premium campaign track rewards, daily card, and etc.
Shran, I am completely shocked and dismayed at your actions. I am still not even clear what these new items are and if you want to ban me for 72 hours then do so. This is not players fault but the people that programmed the game and the people delivering the messages. Feel free to look at how much I have spent playing this game since I started in March 2016. If you want to ban me for 72 hours consider it permanent Shran because my days playing will be done. Again, this is your fault and not players fault.
Did you get a personal email from him? This is a guy that needs new employment. Very rude indeed.
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
What exploit Shan? "Click this button" Did my lazy and incompetent message hurt your feelings so much that you had to respond by calling me rude and a cheater?
When do I get banned from this page? Hope you like all the 1 star rating in the Google store. They already refunded the purchase I made Wednesday due to this. Actually I was more surprised by Google quickness for a refund more than getting banned by you guys.
Google says they will honor all refund requests for Timelines for the past 60 days. Just so you other folks know!
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
The decision I had to take today is not one I took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of your response, and the severity of its impact on the players. Both also being why I have to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
The fact that the pack was claimable more than once was clearly a bug. So it's entirely on you, WRG.
I understand that you took this decision without understanding there would be consequences. However, I cannot in good conscience continue to financially support a game studio who threatens disciplinary actions against its player base with such a high disdain for them. I had been increasing my spending every month since the pandemic started (VIP14), but in support of the people who were banned and in protest of your terrible retaliation, I will no longer be spending a dime on this game.
This is unacceptable. My revenue is gone forever unless this is reversed, I get an apology, and WRG lays out a plan to have an open discussion how this doesn’t happen again from YOUR end.
If grocery store sells me a steak for $1.99 instead of $19.99, that’s on them, not me. Take some responsibility for your Fark up.
Exactly, this is a perfect example. Sometimes I buy stuff at the store without looking at the price because I need it and I'm going to get it no matter what. How am I supposed to know that the steak was really $19.99? Should the police come to my house after and take me away in handcuffs because I didn't look at the price? Of course not. Same thing here.
OK TP you made your point. You have wrecked the player base's love of you, but you have made your point. It is possible for you to say that the amount of the ban was excessive, but still let us all know to make sure to double check every button before we push it. How about you go ahead and basically say time served and let these people come back and play. (if they're even still willing to.)
You still have time to salvage what you have left. But to continue this overblown response to people pushing a button that you guys mistakenly put there, it is childish, and it is unnecessary. Why can everyone else see this but you?
I was not banned. So the only dog I have in this fight is the fact that many of my friends have been affected. But I, and many, many of your loyal customers are here telling you that you are wrong.
Well I hope you enjoy your loss of revenue. Because no one is going to expect this game to last much longer, and they will not feel good about spending money just for it to go down the drain.
I didn’t see this bug or exploit it but to ban players is insane. I have had the extra points for doing the dailies so am I getting banned for that as well?
This is like being on the naughty step.
I would agree with people for the comments about stopping people actively cheating with macros, but not just for taking advantage of a glitch is not right.
Long time lurker and first (and last) time poster. Hello, my name is Asimov and I am a so- called exploiter.
I have decided to add my voice to this. I am sure it will be lost in the storm of protest, but I felt the need to write this before I exit the game for good. Suffice to say I completely disagree with TP/WRG’s disproportionate response to this issue. I also take issue with the language used in the posts from TP/ WRG in addressing this problem.
I have waited for the furore to die down a little before I decided not to play any more in case I would regret it down the road as a knee- jerk reaction. The truth is though, even if they lifted the ban early (which given their current position, would be very surprising), the trust and relationship I had with the game has eroded away to nothing and I would not change my mind about quitting.
I am a big Sci Fi fan but, prior to this game, not particularly a Star Trek fan. Seen a couple of seasons of TNG before playing, but the game really gave me the enthusiasm for the franchise as a whole and I have loved delving into the various series alongside playing the game.
I am level 90 and VIP13 so invested quite a bit into playing the game. I have pretty much played everyday for the last 3 years or so. This last year, in particular, the game has provided me with much needed escapism from the world struggling around me. Even though I play a lot, I would still describe myself as a laid back player, in a laid back fleet. I enjoy looking on the forums but I rarely interact with the community as life and work commitments don’t give me the time to do so.
Now to the evening in question… I was busy feeding my one year old daughter and we were both thoroughly engrossed in an episode of JoJo and Gran Gran (I live in the UK), as I logged in. Using my Dad skills of having my phone hidden on one side of me whilst feeding my daughter, I somewhat absent mindedly began clicking the usual things in the game and jumped into the portal to see if there were anything to pick up. Great, a free pack. Got it and exited. Noticed it was still there. Strange I thought, but the day before there was two packs so maybe I missed the second one. Went in and claimed. And then saw the ‘Buy Again’ button. Odd, I thought. Again, still not really paying attention, I continued to click it. I stopped after a couple of minutes, mainly out of boredom and, to be honest, the episode of JoJo and Gran Gran was heating up to a crescendo by now. Afterwards I thought, oh well, at least FINALLY there was a bug that has gone in my favour after hearing for years on the forums of other players gaining advantages through bugs and loopholes from DB/ TP/ WRG mistakes. Did I feel guilty for taking advantage of the bug, which clearly was a result of TP/ WRG’s ineptitude? Absolutely not. Not for a second. I had a little chuckle to myself and thought, oh well they are going to have to sort this mess they created out. You win some, you lose some.
An appropriate response would have been to take back the additional items the players in question gained. Fine, it’s a fair cop guv. But to ban those players from the game, during an event, during a campaign and during a new feature where the fleet I am part of are counting on me for the shared rewards is just ludicrous. Don't even get me started on the subsequent fix of allowing players to obtain 19 packs - most players, in my view, would have either with eyes wide open, or not, taken advantage of this bug, so why is everyone else now being rewarded for not having logged in during those 5 minutes the bug existed!?
But the thing I take most umbridge with is TP/ WRG questioning my moral compass. HOW DARE THEY! The game is literally designed to click buttons to gain rewards. I spend hours and hours every weekend mindlessly clicking the screen to try and rank in the events and get some good rewards. I have got to stage where I am clicking without paying attention, which I did during this debacle. That doesn’t make me a cheater or morally bankrupt. Would I have stopped and logged a ticket if I had realised what was going on? Probably. Would I have been banned? Probably not. Would I still have been as angry about this situation if I had not been unlucky enough to log in for those 5 minutes and therefore not banned? Absolutely I would.
I was really looking forward to the upcoming honour sale in March and had diligently saved 750k. It’s a shame I can’t donate my honour to my fleet mates to make up for getting banned. I was also looking forward to delving into the new feature as it seemed like a good way to target crew as advertised. I was brimming with little ideas they could use to develop the feature, like faction tokens to turn into faction polestars as there is a lot of players who have long since maxed out the faction shuttles numbers.
Alas, life goes on.
TP will have to learn the hard way that alienating a section of the fan base and community by questioning their integrity is not going to be taken lightly. I really hope I am wrong, but the game is not going to survive in the long term with a gulf between TP and the player base that this issue has formed. Ben has mentioned a few times that WRG do read the forums and take in feedback, so I hope they do take onboard the negative feedback that has resulted in them handling an issue, that was their own creation, so poorly. They have a lot of goodwill with players to repair in the short term.
I’d also like to give a shout out to Timelines Talks, a show which I thoroughly enjoy and will miss a lot. I loved my Thursday routine of sticking the stream on from the night before whilst working and listening to the comical ramblings and astute analysis of Auto, Idol and Stars along with their litany of guest hosts. Hopefully the game will survive this period and you can continue to make great content for the community. I salute you guys. Thank you. Good luck with the house move Idol.
Just as a quick aside- I call BS on anyone calling for individual firings on here. I know people are angry but don’t lash out on individuals who are the face of the game for the community like Shan and Ben please.
I remember recently reading on the forum, sorry I forget who posted it, about matching what you spend in the game with a charity donation. So in that vein I will calculate what I would have likely spent in game for the rest of the year and donate it to a local charity.
Sorry if this has turned into a ramble, but just wanted to get my two cents in. Thanks for anyone taking time out of their day to read this. Hope everyone is safe and well. Best wishes to all.
So long STT, thanks for all the memories.
LLAP,
Asimov
It makes me sad to read this:( I am not banned and have not seen the bug and therefore not affected. Only through this forum and the message of a fleet member I learned, that there was a short-lived bug. The discussions prompted me to write my opinion in this forum for the very first time. I am a member of a German speaking fleet and I watched my first episode (TOS) on TV in 1972 or 1973. So, I was all the more pleased when I started playing STT some time ago. Furthermore I like to watch Timelines Talks. More or less, I overlooked previous and existing bugs. But right now, it is very disturbing that TP is accusing players of intentionally starting a scam. My fleet mate definitely didn't intentionally exploit this bug, for example and I believe him. He didn't even know yesterday, why he got a 72h ban and is very sad that he can't support us as a fleet in the current event and the daily missions. I just hope, he doesn't stop playing like other players. By the way, he has invested quite a bit in his account.
So TP, stand by your mistake and find a solution. But most importantly, stop punishing the loyal player base. Thank you.
Google says they will honor all refund requests for Timelines for the past 60 days. Just so you other folks know!
How? I'm gettin instant autorespond with denial
You may need to contact them directly. They may not have the auto refund for it, but it sounds like they may grant your refund if you speak with someone immediately as opposed to going through the normal system.
There are three ways to do something; the right way, the wrong way, and the Janeway.
I hope someone will explain how to get refund. If Google do this, no reason for Steam to not do same thing. Atleast to save my money for active monthly card and premium campaign, because I dont get that because ban. I pay for nothing.
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
You may want to check on your revenue stream. I would highly anticipate a decline in revenue from STT after Feb 12. Your actions have repercussions too.
it's obvious what you need to do is fire the ones that make the mistake and hire the ones that exploited the mistake
I disagree. To me it look like programmers were pushed to rush update so they made mistakes. That's not uncommon. CD project Red is a latest famous example.
Now managment is another story.
I don’t claim to know the inner workings of TP/WRG, but I know the kinds of decisions made by ego driven middle managers sniffing for bonuses. This would be one of those.
This seems like the most accurate assessment ive seen
I've been playing this game for a year now and have spent over a thousand dollars on it. I too kept hitting the "Buy Again" button and collected all 19 days worth on my TWO accounts all at once.
Fortunately I haven't been penalized so far on either accounts.
The TP is upset that we collected more than was intended because of TP's glitch and want to retaliate by punishing the very players that support this game.
Not very good business acumen if you ask me.
Well, have any of you experience this glitch in the game of equipment repeatedly being taken while your equipping and training your crew?
Since April of last year, every time there is item's on the crew manifest, say 12 items, I get to equip 1 to 2 crew as I watch the other 10 items disappear before my eyes.
I've reported this issue 4 different times and have sent in screen shots proving the glitch is happening.
Their response was to tell me that this issue isn't wide spread in the game and at the same time they failed to completely understand the problem and fix it. Costing me precious dilithium (most from in game purchases) spinning the Dabo wheel, winning 6 items for my crew and only get to equip 1 or 2 as the other items vanish from the crew manifest before I can use them, holding back my crews advancement towards max level and immortalizing them.
Also, delaying my completing away team missions since I have no crew to use that has the needed level to do the next mission.
So, it's seems to me the players are getting the shaft from all of these glitches.
How do we penalize TP for their lack of business acumen and commitment to player satisfaction?
QUITTING the game and WARN other potential players to avoid this game, because you will get more frustration than pleasure and NOT get your money's worth from this ripoff game.
I quit Angry Birds under similar reason's after I seen how they cheat the players too.
I've been playing this game for a year now and have spent over a thousand dollars on it. I too kept hitting the "Buy Again" button and collected all 19 days worth on my TWO accounts all at once.
Fortunately I haven't been penalized so far on either accounts.
The TP is upset that we collected more than was intended because of TP's glitch and want to retaliate by punishing the very players that support this game.
Not very good business acumen if you ask me.
Well, have any of you experience this glitch in the game of equipment repeatedly being taken while your equipping and training your crew?
Since April of last year, every time there is item's on the crew manifest, say 12 items, I get to equip 1 to 2 crew as I watch the other 10 items disappear before my eyes.
I've reported this issue 4 different times and have sent in screen shots proving the glitch is happening.
Their response was to tell me that this issue isn't wide spread in the game and at the same time they failed to completely understand the problem and fix it. Costing me precious dilithium (most from in game purchases) spinning the Dabo wheel, winning 6 items for my crew and only get to equip 1 or 2 as the other items vanish from the crew manifest before I can use them, holding back my crews advancement towards max level and immortalizing them.
Also, delaying my completing away team missions since I have no crew to use that has the needed level to do the next mission.
So, it's seems to me the players are getting the shaft from all of these glitches.
How do we penalize TP for their lack of business acumen and commitment to player satisfaction?
QUITTING the game and WARN other potential players to avoid this game, because you will get more frustration than pleasure and NOT get your money's worth from this ripoff game.
I quit Angry Birds under similar reason's after I seen how they cheat the players too.
Namaste.
Are you sure that you just have not reached the 1,000 item limit and items are being automatically deleted because of it?
There are three ways to do something; the right way, the wrong way, and the Janeway.
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
You may want to check on your revenue stream. I would highly anticipate a decline in revenue from STT after Feb 12. Your actions have repercussions too.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.
Since April of last year, every time there is item's on the crew manifest, say 12 items, I get to equip 1 to 2 crew as I watch the other 10 items disappear before my eyes.
I've reported this issue 4 different times and have sent in screen shots proving the glitch is happening.
Their response was to tell me that this issue isn't wide spread in the game and at the same time they failed to completely understand the problem and fix it. Costing me precious dilithium (most from in game purchases) spinning the Dabo wheel, winning 6 items for my crew and only get to equip 1 or 2 as the other items vanish from the crew manifest before I can use them, holding back my crews advancement towards max level and immortalizing them.
Also, delaying my completing away team missions since I have no crew to use that has the needed level to do the next mission.
This is a misunderstanding. Let us assume you have 12 crew who could use a Social Lesson and you have 1 Social Lesson. The manifest would show a marker of 12 as there are 12 possible uses for the 1 item. But as soon as you equip it on one of them the counter will go away entirely as you have nothing to equip to the other 11 crew left.
The same goes for recipies. If you use components and they then lack from other recipies the counter goes down a lot.
This is not a bug but working properly.
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.
Since April of last year, every time there is item's on the crew manifest, say 12 items, I get to equip 1 to 2 crew as I watch the other 10 items disappear before my eyes.
I've reported this issue 4 different times and have sent in screen shots proving the glitch is happening.
Their response was to tell me that this issue isn't wide spread in the game and at the same time they failed to completely understand the problem and fix it. Costing me precious dilithium (most from in game purchases) spinning the Dabo wheel, winning 6 items for my crew and only get to equip 1 or 2 as the other items vanish from the crew manifest before I can use them, holding back my crews advancement towards max level and immortalizing them.
Also, delaying my completing away team missions since I have no crew to use that has the needed level to do the next mission.
This is a misunderstanding. Let us assume you have 12 crew who could use a Social Lesson and you have 1 Social Lesson. The manifest would show a marker of 12 as there are 12 possible uses for the 1 item. But as soon as you equip it on one of them the counter will go away entirely as you have nothing to equip to the other 11 crew left.
The same goes for recipies. If you use components and they then lack from other recipies the counter goes down a lot.
This is not a bug but working properly.
Ah, but you reminded me of another exploit having to do with components and making items...
I am one of the Banned. I clicked once, then clicked again thinking I’d pay for a second set. When it came up free again, I thought it was a nice hidden reward type deal. Then I clicked a few more times and then more, knowing it was an error on their part (NOT an exploit on my part). I stopped pretty soon aftera few minutes. Clicked once more and got the tribbles notification. Ok, it’s fixed. Then the ban message, which made me laugh, at first. Then I thought, “gee that’s excessive”. Then I hear they’re taking everything away and giving the same thing to others. Huh, this seemed a bit much. Then the second message comes out and now I’m firmly in **tsk tsk** you mode. You mess up your code. You mess up and then dare to basically call players who spend, criminals. I say again, **tsk tsk** you.
Take what I got away, that’s fair. Taking everything is a bit excessive. Banning for 72 hours is **tsk tsk**. Again, this was not an exploit. This was you failing to do your job properly.
I spent money in this game every month. Sometimes it is just monthly dil and campaign. Other times it’s more. After this why would I spend anything ever again? Giving you money after this seems dirty. I’d feel like a sucker giving a company more money after this attitude and treatment for something they screwed up. Right now it’s 70-30 that I’m not coming back and if I do, it’s as someone who doesn’t spend a dime. I’m sure that won’t last long and I’ll end up deleting a now no-fun game.
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
You may want to check on your revenue stream. I would highly anticipate a decline in revenue from STT after Feb 12. Your actions have repercussions too.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.
I meant...that people in the future will stop buying in-game items, and the effect would be to reduce the income to TP from STT.
Humans are illogical, emotional creatures. For a large swath of the playerbase, whenever they use this much anticipated new feature, they'll think about the player ban. Idiotic move to associate the brand new content you want to push and monetize with something this draconian and unpleasant.
The decisions we had to take today are not ones we took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of the exploit, and the severity of its impact on the game. Both also being why we had to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
This pack was announced as being available once per day and displayed a purchase limit of 1. The fact that it was claimable more than once was clearly a bug.
We understand that many players made a few additional claims without understanding there was an exploit, and those people will suffer no repercussions for their actions. However there were also players who exploited the issue to a degree that was not acceptable.
You may want to check on your revenue stream. I would highly anticipate a decline in revenue from STT after Feb 12. Your actions have repercussions too.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.
I meant...that people in the future will stop buying in-game items, and the effect would be to reduce the income to TP from STT.
Google says they will honor all refund requests for Timelines for the past 60 days. Just so you other folks know!
How? I'm gettin instant autorespond with denial
You may need to contact them directly. They may not have the auto refund for it, but it sounds like they may grant your refund if you speak with someone immediately as opposed to going through the normal system.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.
Comments
REINSTATE the players, your decision was wrong on this one.
and this ^ is the true severe
~· Fly with the Subspace Eddies! ·~
Shan does not send out emails. She is merely the public representative of communication between the player base and TP headquarters on here and the official Facebook page. Blaming her for something she did not do is ironic considering why you are here now in the first place. Also, please provide proof of such a nasty email. Customer service should not be rude like that to those they are interacting with.
DB: Do Better.
Member of Starship Trista.
I came here to comment something similar -- I just logged in this morning and went to claim the daily pack (mentally I figured, well one it's safer for me to claim once again lest TP change their mind and decide later today that multi-claims in the day actually isn't what they intended, and for my own sense of pack/click-happy it'd be better to spread it out and not all at once).
But I couldn't help noticing... once I click on pack, I see the rewards pop up and the same exact buttons as yesterday.
There is nothing on the purchase screen that says "Hey this pack is designed to limit you to 1 pack per day" or now "19 total pulls". TP seems to have extreme faith that people playing a click-happy game actually read the text (like the emphasis they've put on "look at this engaging story" around CD).
But let's be clear... I see a pack in the portal that has a "claim" button on it, with items that I need for a new feature you've launched, I'm going to click the "claim" button - not read the fine print text.
Once I click on claim, and have access to the "Buy Again" button, some of my currencies are displayed at the top, but I don't pay close enough to those numbers to know if they're changing. Isn't it reasonable of me to assume that clicking "Buy Again" is charging me X amount of credits, merits, honor, or dilithium? And that if I'm dedicated enough to go after the new resources, eventually the "Buy Again" button will stop letting me purchase because I'm out of said currency?
The difference is now, the pack is coded correctly as opposed to a pack that was tossed into the live game without actually checking the code to ensure it worked as intended.
I have NEVER seen a mobile game where the operating strategy has been "let's make everything totally available just by clicks and assume the player will limit themselves." No, the reason limits are in place in any mobile game is because the COMPANY wants to spread out player purchases and player interactions.
So why is it the player fault that they claimed something was available? No player manipulated the code to make the button appear for everyone, used a third party software to access some back-end of the software and open up a loop hole to claim extra times. People just utilized the button that was coded into the game. It doesn't matter if that was the intention behind the button, it doesn't matter if you sat in your conference room at TP headquarters and expected players to honor the text that said "Limit 1" (assuming players trusted the text to be accurate), it's not the player fault that the accident happened in the coding of the button.
Now, I can understand if there were players that spammed the button multiple hundreds of times why this would be alarming and need some sort of corrective action -- but it's appalling that the answer is "let's ban the player for using a button we accidentally put there and miscoded". It's also appalling that the answer is - "let's take away the resources they got from the button" - which is totally fair... "and also anything they had collected through totally intended means prior to the button" - followed by "we'll ban them and then give to all the remaining players what those people got and we took away."
Except, as always, we're not given a complete picture of what happened, why it happened, and why actions need taken. The explanation is convoluted, a knee-jerk reaction from what seems to be a hurt ego that the new "feature" launch over a year in development suddenly didn't roll out exactly as planned.
If there are users that claimed multiple hundreds of times, I agree, actions need to be taken to correct the imbalance, but not punitive ones, because they didn't do anything necessarily maliciously, because they used what was put in front of them. Take advantage of it? Sure. Violate the TOS? Absolutely not.
Except the ban was put in place inconsistently. People who claimed a couple extra times are reporting being banned, people who claimed lots are reporting not being banned. It seems like the intention was "anything over 20 pulls" because 19 is the magic number. But how did that 19 get arrived to? The pack wasn't supposed to be originally available that long (or please correct me if I'm mis-remembering - I thought it was only like 15 days total). If "19 pulls" was the number that was randomly decided to be approved, why not 20, or 30? What's the logic between the random "19" number? How can you sit in the conference room and come to a determination that "this many presses of the button we mis-coded is fine, but this many is not".
Once again, after time and again of the last months, it's the lack of transparency in communication that is at biggest fault in absolutely destroying whatever minimal trust has been left in the game community.
I already want to sarcastically post in every event thread and ask "hey, is this gold reward going to be the actual gold reward?" And now you have me hesitating on EVERY button push on a pack wondering if the button I clearly see available to me is on purpose and working as intended or if I'll have some ridiculous punishment lauded down from on high.
And now TP's in a terrible position -- realize they over reacted and relax the ban but then open up to MAJOR issues with event scores and ranks being out of balance -- or hold fast to their line and show their "strength" but lose significant trust and player numbers in the process - while also opening up to what I can only assume is a mountain of CS tickets this morning about lost items that were pulled in the quick reaction, premium campaign track rewards, daily card, and etc.
I did
What exploit Shan? "Click this button" Did my lazy and incompetent message hurt your feelings so much that you had to respond by calling me rude and a cheater?
When do I get banned from this page? Hope you like all the 1 star rating in the Google store. They already refunded the purchase I made Wednesday due to this. Actually I was more surprised by Google quickness for a refund more than getting banned by you guys.
Google says they will honor all refund requests for Timelines for the past 60 days. Just so you other folks know!
And follow that up with some disciplinary actions on the employee/s who gave the green light to ban a bunch of people who tapped a button?
The decision I had to take today is not one I took lightly.
It was a necessity due to the nature of your response, and the severity of its impact on the players. Both also being why I have to handle this differently than previous issues, even if said previous issues may appear similar on the surface.
The fact that the pack was claimable more than once was clearly a bug. So it's entirely on you, WRG.
I understand that you took this decision without understanding there would be consequences. However, I cannot in good conscience continue to financially support a game studio who threatens disciplinary actions against its player base with such a high disdain for them. I had been increasing my spending every month since the pandemic started (VIP14), but in support of the people who were banned and in protest of your terrible retaliation, I will no longer be spending a dime on this game.
There goes my 3 months of therapy, right down the drain, Thanks Locutus 🤣
Exactly, this is a perfect example. Sometimes I buy stuff at the store without looking at the price because I need it and I'm going to get it no matter what. How am I supposed to know that the steak was really $19.99? Should the police come to my house after and take me away in handcuffs because I didn't look at the price? Of course not. Same thing here.
OK TP you made your point. You have wrecked the player base's love of you, but you have made your point. It is possible for you to say that the amount of the ban was excessive, but still let us all know to make sure to double check every button before we push it. How about you go ahead and basically say time served and let these people come back and play. (if they're even still willing to.)
You still have time to salvage what you have left. But to continue this overblown response to people pushing a button that you guys mistakenly put there, it is childish, and it is unnecessary. Why can everyone else see this but you?
I was not banned. So the only dog I have in this fight is the fact that many of my friends have been affected. But I, and many, many of your loyal customers are here telling you that you are wrong.
Well I hope you enjoy your loss of revenue. Because no one is going to expect this game to last much longer, and they will not feel good about spending money just for it to go down the drain.
How? I'm gettin instant autorespond with denial
This is like being on the naughty step.
I would agree with people for the comments about stopping people actively cheating with macros, but not just for taking advantage of a glitch is not right.
I'm also getting auto-denied.
Exactly this
It makes me sad to read this:( I am not banned and have not seen the bug and therefore not affected. Only through this forum and the message of a fleet member I learned, that there was a short-lived bug. The discussions prompted me to write my opinion in this forum for the very first time. I am a member of a German speaking fleet and I watched my first episode (TOS) on TV in 1972 or 1973. So, I was all the more pleased when I started playing STT some time ago. Furthermore I like to watch Timelines Talks. More or less, I overlooked previous and existing bugs. But right now, it is very disturbing that TP is accusing players of intentionally starting a scam. My fleet mate definitely didn't intentionally exploit this bug, for example and I believe him. He didn't even know yesterday, why he got a 72h ban and is very sad that he can't support us as a fleet in the current event and the daily missions. I just hope, he doesn't stop playing like other players. By the way, he has invested quite a bit in his account.
So TP, stand by your mistake and find a solution. But most importantly, stop punishing the loyal player base. Thank you.
You may need to contact them directly. They may not have the auto refund for it, but it sounds like they may grant your refund if you speak with someone immediately as opposed to going through the normal system.
DB: Do Better.
Member of Starship Trista.
Me too.
You may want to check on your revenue stream. I would highly anticipate a decline in revenue from STT after Feb 12. Your actions have repercussions too.
This seems like the most accurate assessment ive seen
Fortunately I haven't been penalized so far on either accounts.
The TP is upset that we collected more than was intended because of TP's glitch and want to retaliate by punishing the very players that support this game.
Not very good business acumen if you ask me.
Well, have any of you experience this glitch in the game of equipment repeatedly being taken while your equipping and training your crew?
Since April of last year, every time there is item's on the crew manifest, say 12 items, I get to equip 1 to 2 crew as I watch the other 10 items disappear before my eyes.
I've reported this issue 4 different times and have sent in screen shots proving the glitch is happening.
Their response was to tell me that this issue isn't wide spread in the game and at the same time they failed to completely understand the problem and fix it. Costing me precious dilithium (most from in game purchases) spinning the Dabo wheel, winning 6 items for my crew and only get to equip 1 or 2 as the other items vanish from the crew manifest before I can use them, holding back my crews advancement towards max level and immortalizing them.
Also, delaying my completing away team missions since I have no crew to use that has the needed level to do the next mission.
So, it's seems to me the players are getting the shaft from all of these glitches.
How do we penalize TP for their lack of business acumen and commitment to player satisfaction?
QUITTING the game and WARN other potential players to avoid this game, because you will get more frustration than pleasure and NOT get your money's worth from this ripoff game.
I quit Angry Birds under similar reason's after I seen how they cheat the players too.
Namaste.
Are you sure that you just have not reached the 1,000 item limit and items are being automatically deleted because of it?
DB: Do Better.
Member of Starship Trista.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.
This is a misunderstanding. Let us assume you have 12 crew who could use a Social Lesson and you have 1 Social Lesson. The manifest would show a marker of 12 as there are 12 possible uses for the 1 item. But as soon as you equip it on one of them the counter will go away entirely as you have nothing to equip to the other 11 crew left.
The same goes for recipies. If you use components and they then lack from other recipies the counter goes down a lot.
This is not a bug but working properly.
https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/17683/google-play-email-address#latest
Ah, but you reminded me of another exploit having to do with components and making items...
Take what I got away, that’s fair. Taking everything is a bit excessive. Banning for 72 hours is **tsk tsk**. Again, this was not an exploit. This was you failing to do your job properly.
I spent money in this game every month. Sometimes it is just monthly dil and campaign. Other times it’s more. After this why would I spend anything ever again? Giving you money after this seems dirty. I’d feel like a sucker giving a company more money after this attitude and treatment for something they screwed up. Right now it’s 70-30 that I’m not coming back and if I do, it’s as someone who doesn’t spend a dime. I’m sure that won’t last long and I’ll end up deleting a now no-fun game.
Good job.
I meant...that people in the future will stop buying in-game items, and the effect would be to reduce the income to TP from STT.
Proud Former Officer of The Gluten Empire
Retired 12-14-20. So long, and thanks for all the cat pics!
Omg. Sry. Quoted wrong post.
Can you be more specific plz?
When I try to access direct contact information they gave ma a 100 letters form and made a ticket.