I Never Thought I would Write This...
Bylo Band
✭✭✭✭✭
in The Bridge
...but I am essentially done. If not for my fleet I would probably walk away completely but I still find my work in fleet management rewarding and beneficial to people I have grown to care about so I will remain in that capacity, but I have already gone down to being a F2P player, stopped doing everything non-Fleet Boss related that does not contribute to dailies (Gauntlet, Continuum Missions), and I no longer try in events - for example, I did not even bother to send even one event voyage for phase 1 of the Stowaway hybrid event running right now. Before I continue this goodbye, because this forum and many of the people here over the years have been important to me I will give you all a going away present and save you the trouble of doing this...
...I like them both so I spent a few minutes combining them, it seemed like an appropriate final gesture.
I was never on the same level as the whales, those juggernauts that had copies of every card, but for several years I was on the next tier down. As a nod to my original thread I have to date still never immortalized or even own a copy of Acting Ensign Crusher and due to my intense dislike of the character I have placed a personal restriction on myself of never owning copies of any 5* Riker card (apologies to my fleet, this has had unintended negative consequences for node solving on the Fleet boss!) but removing those from consideration there was once a time where I was only missing a dozen of the remaining cards in the game, and had I truly felt the need I had the ability to "catch them all". Multiple times I also had every collection maxed (that did not require a 5* Riker!).
I maintained a borderline reckless level of spending to keep those goals in sight, I never failed to buy the paid campaign tracks, and when the voyage exclusive cards were released I increased my spending to chase those cards. It was all pointless and I regret doing that now. No matter how much you spend, no matter how much effort you put in, no matter how much sleep you give up, no matter what else you do, those voyage exclusive cards and my inability to get any copies of the last 3 introduced despite tremendous spending/effort just broke something in me, caused me to pause and start asking questions, and at some point it just dawned on me that it is no longer possible to "catch them all". So I surrendered here and have applied my entertainment budget in different places, for example this month I dusted off my old MTG Commander deck and have updated it.
There is a lot more I had intended to include here, I mentally wrote an entire section about how Quipment/Continuum Missions have forever changed voyages and destroyed the sense of community we had organically cultivated as we all chased the mythic 12 hour voyage accomplishment which used to mean a great deal and was only possible because we were all on the same relative level, but I think instead I will issue a final observation to serve as a canary in the coalmine.
For years people have used the Admiral division of the Arena to try and estimate player engagement and while that might be useful to track, I think there a more difficult thing to track that is a better indicator: fleets. My fleet has welcomed several "new" players (homeless level 99s) in recent months who have reported that they have been forced to hop from fleet to fleet looking for ANYTHING viable. It seems there are very few active fleets out there at/near 50/50 players with strong starbases, active leadership, and proactive Fleet Boss plans. Based on this I think the long-term viability of play is pretty bleak, we are losing players and it is getting increasingly impossible for new players to find footing due to decaying fleet activity. There are a small number of extremely motivated, active fleets, a small number of active fleets, and a swarm of small/atrophied/dying fleets. I do not know how much longer things can continue on this path but based on what I have observed I suspect we are in the accretion disk and drawing dangerously close to the event horizon of viability. Were I on the development team and tasked with saving this game I would change fleet membership and open them up to allowing more than 50 players or come up with some other solution to minimize the extreme disadvantage and inability to enjoy the game that exists for the growing masses unable to get into a strong fleet. Seeing as how the team keeps shrinking my suspicion however is that the company is trying to cram as many resources into their escape pod and blasting to safety before they allow everything STT and everyone playing to be spaghettified.
Take care of yourselves, so long.
-Bylo
...I like them both so I spent a few minutes combining them, it seemed like an appropriate final gesture.
I was never on the same level as the whales, those juggernauts that had copies of every card, but for several years I was on the next tier down. As a nod to my original thread I have to date still never immortalized or even own a copy of Acting Ensign Crusher and due to my intense dislike of the character I have placed a personal restriction on myself of never owning copies of any 5* Riker card (apologies to my fleet, this has had unintended negative consequences for node solving on the Fleet boss!) but removing those from consideration there was once a time where I was only missing a dozen of the remaining cards in the game, and had I truly felt the need I had the ability to "catch them all". Multiple times I also had every collection maxed (that did not require a 5* Riker!).
I maintained a borderline reckless level of spending to keep those goals in sight, I never failed to buy the paid campaign tracks, and when the voyage exclusive cards were released I increased my spending to chase those cards. It was all pointless and I regret doing that now. No matter how much you spend, no matter how much effort you put in, no matter how much sleep you give up, no matter what else you do, those voyage exclusive cards and my inability to get any copies of the last 3 introduced despite tremendous spending/effort just broke something in me, caused me to pause and start asking questions, and at some point it just dawned on me that it is no longer possible to "catch them all". So I surrendered here and have applied my entertainment budget in different places, for example this month I dusted off my old MTG Commander deck and have updated it.
There is a lot more I had intended to include here, I mentally wrote an entire section about how Quipment/Continuum Missions have forever changed voyages and destroyed the sense of community we had organically cultivated as we all chased the mythic 12 hour voyage accomplishment which used to mean a great deal and was only possible because we were all on the same relative level, but I think instead I will issue a final observation to serve as a canary in the coalmine.
For years people have used the Admiral division of the Arena to try and estimate player engagement and while that might be useful to track, I think there a more difficult thing to track that is a better indicator: fleets. My fleet has welcomed several "new" players (homeless level 99s) in recent months who have reported that they have been forced to hop from fleet to fleet looking for ANYTHING viable. It seems there are very few active fleets out there at/near 50/50 players with strong starbases, active leadership, and proactive Fleet Boss plans. Based on this I think the long-term viability of play is pretty bleak, we are losing players and it is getting increasingly impossible for new players to find footing due to decaying fleet activity. There are a small number of extremely motivated, active fleets, a small number of active fleets, and a swarm of small/atrophied/dying fleets. I do not know how much longer things can continue on this path but based on what I have observed I suspect we are in the accretion disk and drawing dangerously close to the event horizon of viability. Were I on the development team and tasked with saving this game I would change fleet membership and open them up to allowing more than 50 players or come up with some other solution to minimize the extreme disadvantage and inability to enjoy the game that exists for the growing masses unable to get into a strong fleet. Seeing as how the team keeps shrinking my suspicion however is that the company is trying to cram as many resources into their escape pod and blasting to safety before they allow everything STT and everyone playing to be spaghettified.
Take care of yourselves, so long.
-Bylo
9
Comments
I’ve enjoyed your insights on the forums over the years. And no worries, I’ve got all the Rikers you’ve missed. 😆 I wish you well. LLAP
If i had to pick any moment in this games shelf life that was a “tilting point”, it was right then. In some ways i should thank Benny boy, because on that day i stopped all spending, and encouraged everyone else i knew to do the same. The dopes that are running this game into the ground never did anything to recover from that colossal mistake aside from Benny giving a half hearted apology, and i truly believe that his actions indirectly were the catalyst of all of the wicked realm employees being laid off as there was a massive purge of loyal, paying players, and they never came back. I wont either.
It is not a grudge that I hold. Its awareness that the people who run the game were fools who inherited a loyal, slightly reckless fanbase that, once upon a time, poured a lot of money into this game’s content. And the people running the game completely mismanaged it.
Regarding your comment about fleets, Bylo, I think it's just due to so many fleets now consisting of long-time veteran players, who are active in their own way but perhaps are seen as inactive to newer players who are looking for a more hungry attitude amongst their fleetmates. Our fleet, for example, doesn't have anyone still needing bilitrium & kemocite, so we mainly just run Hard FB battles to farm Honor (with any remaining valor going to a single NM, Ultra, and/or Brutal boss), with absolutely no focus on clearing nodes unless there's an OE requiring them. We do still operate a few sister fleets, but even those are getting close to that 'graybeard' status.
I've played STT far longer than I've played any other game -- and spent even more money on it than I used to spend when hosting a weekly poker game. I look at it as my 'entertainment budget' since I'm not spending money on booze right now, and not really going out for lunch or evening meals. Yes, I'm aware of the sunken cost fallacy, but I still enjoy the game, and have a good fleet to interact with (although even that interaction has lessened to a great degree in recent years, due to others who just aren't putting the time and effort into the game that they once did).
I do appreciate that there are still efforts being made to add new elements to the game -- especially considering how much their hands are tied because of the way the game was initially set up; both with how it was originally coded, and how the game play itself was structured. I like that new crew are always being added, and that the artwork (which, tbh, was one of the biggest things that drew me into the game) is generally better now than at any previous time in the game's history. I'm not a fan of Lower Decks at all, and would personally rather not have cartoonish artwork in the game, but I appreciate the effort to bring in new shows and potentially new players who are fans of those shows.
Those of us who have been around since the early days have seen the game (and whatever company who happened to be running it at the time) go through many changes -- some good, some bad -- so I think veteran players either get to a point where they say "ugh, that's enough, I've had it" or they just shrug whilst knowing there will be ups and downs but they're here for both.
All that having been said, I wish you good journeys, Bylo. 🖖🏼
...and THATS why I am leaving, but not really....
Not sure, from what you said, it's sounds like you will still be playing , but with less effort and staying f2p (since you started doing it)
I gather this might be you last post, so again thanks for all your posts on the forum.