I’m at the point that I’m losing trainers because they are going over the 32k cap. So it isn’t even a reward for me.
We need some way to convert useless items (useless for many of us. I know I can use them in the replicator, but I’m never going to run out of rations) like scematics, starbase components and trainers. Honor or credits would be perfect.
Agreed. For those short on trainers, honour can be used to but trainers. So change the trainer rewards to the same amount of honour you would need to buy those trainers and everyone benefits. Or change the prizes to credits and let people buy trainers for credits.
Thanks for your follow-up. I have to say, less chronitons for me means I'm less likely to compete in galaxy events. Not because I don't want to, but because I won't be able to.
I will probably continue to extend voyages because my dil has to go somewhere but it will certainly reduce gameplay for me.
It's a good restriction because I'll stick to my monthly card and not buy any extra dilithium once in a while because there's not a lot of point.
Trainers won't be a problem (I have lots anyway) because I won't have the crew to level. The increase is good at lower levels and will benefit newer players.
In general, I have more chrons than I need, so I don't have a huge problem with the cut. I just wish that I'd have gotten something useful in exchange, that's all. A corresponding increase to the crew drop rate (as was announced initially), I felt was a fair tradeoff. This, sadly just seems like a nerf for nerf's sake.
And an increase that was also 'slight' was promised. Wheres the 30% bump in creds for the 30% drop in late voyage chrons? I'm seeing no difference so I call shenanigans.
- you speak about chronitons about 75% of the statement. Chroniton issue was the only thing that was CORRECTLY announced (ignoring the fact that your command of the English language seems limited, since you don't know what the word "slight" means), so why obsess over this and not a word about the things that changed dramatically and were NOT announced? Makes no sense whatsoever to me.
- You mention the trainer issue with the only and non-expanatory statement, that you changed your mind on that. Why? It's useless junk...simply leaving this unchanged would have been the same to pretty much everybody. So this does not really help.
- Not a single word why crew drops get dramatically decreased instead of increased
- Not a word on why crew drops are significantly down in quantity AND quality (not a single purple and only one blue since the change)
- Not a word on why only crappy dilemmas appear anymore. Not a single dilemma that gives even the chance of blue crew since the dilemma. Not to talk about purple, those are gone forever apparently (for free players), but no word on that.
- Not a word on why replicator rations were all but eliminated as drops...they drop with the same frequency, but the amount is laughable in comparison to before. If you think you gave us too much, that's fine, but also here not a word of communication about this issue.
- No word on why you announced slight 'adjustments' and explicitly (!!!) no major changes but the result is dramatic in every way (and I'm not talking about chronitons, which you seem to be obsessed about).
I am talking from the perspective of someone who does not pay dilithium to extend voyages. Except for the few chronitons voyages have become pretty much useless for me.
You say you want to improve communication and transparency. So far you're off to a really bad start. You issue a statement that explains exactly nothing.
Please do better! I still don't understand what happened and your silence on that issue is deafening.
You don't incentivize good communication by resorting to hyperbole. There isn't nearly enough data yet to make most of the wild accusations you're throwing around.
Just from my own experience, I have received 2 4*s and multiple 3*s since the change and have had at least 1-3 1* crew in all of my voyages. Before, I considered 450 honor for my normal 7:00 voyages a success and I've been mostly hitting that, if falling a little short (which isn't a surprise if they've reduced 1* drops).
I have also received a similar amount of replicator rations as prior to the change (my current voyage, at 6 hours, has 29 3*. Yesterday, I got a handful of 4* and 3*s). Replicator rations were always a high-variance drop. When they drop, you tend to get a large chunk...but sometimes you don't get any. Heck, when voyages were first released, it took a long time to pin down exactly when the different kinds COULD drop because they were that erratic.
The reason they talk about chronotons is because that's the part that actually changed. The rest is because you're looking to extrapolate the results of 3-4 voyages out to the entire feature.
You don't incentivize good communication by resorting to hyperbole. There isn't nearly enough data yet to make most of the wild accusations you're throwing around.
- every statement I made is true. I am highly qualified to use data to make those statements. I seem to be one of the few that base their statements on actual data and not just feelings. When things happen, that never happened before, it's highly likely that it's due to changes. If things happen that never happened before in succession, it's all but certain that it's due to changes. I keep track of all my voyages.
- If you don't like my statement, that's fine. I won't lose a minute of sleep over it. But if you think you can use your opinion about my statement to excuse their bad communication, this will annoy me. Their communication strategy should not be contingent on whether or not you like my statement, not even if one could objectively label my statement as inappropriate. For now I will file this under bad oversight from your side and trust this won't happen again! I am not responsible for the inadequacies of other people!
Admiral Prince, can we please have clarity about which things now have a higher chance of dropping, which have the same, and which have less? Checklist:
- 1* crew
- 2* crew
- 3* crew
- 4* crew (regular 4* crew, not just the voyage-exclusive ones)
- replicator rations
- trainers
- honour
- credits!
Thanks!
It was presented to us that there would be more of other things to cushion the lessening (and increased RNG) of chronitons (including credits and crew dropping in general, in addition to voyage-exclusive crew). Yet I see no difference in credits, and possible decrease in crew.
Going by what "slightly less" seems to mean for DB, shouldn't I be able to notice a very significant increase in credits and other things that were going to drop "a little bit more"?
I'll spend less dilithium if voyages aren't worth it to me for credits, crew and honour, especially now that there are far less chronitons. It won't be spent elsewhere in the game; I'll simply spend less. Just like I spent more on voyages than I did before them, because I felt they were a good value.
You don't incentivize good communication by resorting to hyperbole. There isn't nearly enough data yet to make most of the wild accusations you're throwing around.
- every statement I made is true. I am highly qualified to use data to make those statements. I seem to be one of the few that base their statements on actual data and not just feelings. When things happen, that never happened before, it's highly likely that it's due to changes. If things happen that never happened before in succession, it's all but certain that it's due to changes. I keep track of all my voyages.
- If you don't like my statement, that's fine. I won't lose a minute of sleep over it. But if you think you can use your opinion about my statement to excuse their bad communication, this will annoy me. Their communication strategy should not be contingent on whether or not you like my statement, not even if one could objectively label my statement as inappropriate. For now I will file this under bad oversight from your side and trust this won't happen again! I am not responsible for the inadequacies of other people!
Data-based arguments without sharing underlying data are not useful.
Data-based arguments that use small sample sizes are not useful.
Claims of solid fact when all that is presented are non-specific anecdotes are not useful.
I would love to see the data you have made these claims off of. All it could do is serve to strengthen your argument.
The only thing I happen to dislike about your statement is the lack of spacing between paragraphs, but I probably use them too much, so I am happy to agree to disagree there.
First off, I am happy to see you engage with us Admiral Prince. I know that this is going to be tough, but stick with us please. It is great to feel heard even if we don't always feel listened to.
My opinion. Voyages were very generous for chronitons and it fundamentally changed the game. My spending definitely increased as I could clear several crew a week and so I was playing it like a crew collecting game. My new constraint became faction items and slots, but whilst this was challenging I felt comfortable dropping nearly $50 a month to keep buying crew when the price was right.
Voyages are a very fun gameplay option, and have driven my crew choices for the last few months, and have changed my perception of how deep I want my roster to be and where I want to apply my resources.
I always expected a nerf to chronitons on Voyages, it was very generous. The messaging on this has been very poor however. The use of the word 'slight' is close to a lie.
However, I have no issue with the chron nerf itself, but what I would want to see is better other rewards on voyages. The trainers are essentially no reward, like many others I have more than I can ever use (unless you give us a way to use them). So please replace a lot of the trainer drops with more equipment or honor or merits or something players can still use after a few weeks of gameplay. With less chronitons trainers become even more useless too.
All in all, this voyage nerf doesn't upset me hugely because I expected it, but it will affect my spending because overall Voyages seem to have gotten less useful and so it will lower my ambition and general enthusiasm for the game, which is a pity.
As I said, Voyages are a great gameplay mode and I'd love to see them developed and iterated upon, the chron nerf isn't wildly inappropriate, but the messaging on this has been poor. Please find other, more balanced ways to make Voyages exciting and useful and that means getting rid of useless loot table drops like trainers (and possibly even replicator fuel which is also overabundant).
Data-based arguments without sharing underlying data are not useful.
Data-based arguments that use small sample sizes are not useful.
Claims of solid fact when all that is presented are non-specific anecdotes are not useful.
I would love to see the data you have made these claims off of. All it could do is serve to strengthen your argument.
Well, you probably have not read any other posts of me, if you think I don't use data to back up my claims
I will wager the bold claim that you are unqualified to teach me how to handle data Just throwing out things you heard in passing from people who might or might not understand anything about data analysis, does not make you an expert on the issue. Moreover, in the current context those statements are simply wrong. You assume that once the changes in the voyages happened, the analysis of them just begin. But that's not true. We already have all the historic data to analyze and thus we do not necessarily need a lot of data to make statements about the changes. Lets take the increased drops of trainers as an example. This increase has been massive and thus, considering the historic data, we need only one measly voyage to state with almost certainty that the increase has been considerable. If this increase had been only slight (as sold to us by DB), let's say 2-3%, THEN we would need a whole lot more voyages to make an assessment about that issue. We do not need that in this case.
Same is true for replicator rations.
It's still possible for the crew/dilemma that it's just a "streak of bad luck" (*), but I highly doubt it from what I've seen.
Don't you worry, once everybody runs out of replicator rations/cannot replicate the items as before, everybody will agree, even you.
As long as you don't bring with you the necessary credentials to teach me about how to handle data, please refrain from doing so! Your discretion in this matter is much appreciated.
*) I put the term "streak of bad luck" in quotation marks, since when it comes to DB, this expression has no meaning.
As a new player who started after voyages were implemented, I found that spending dilithium on extending voyages staffed by my weak crew allowed me to compete and get super rare and legendary crew quickly from galaxy events. Spending in voyages was more efficient than spending on packs and combined with galaxy events created a leveler of the playing field that allowed me to get rewards that were (and largely still are) well out of reach in faction events.
While I’m not casting doubt on the altruistic intent of balancing voyages towards newer players, I would suggest that it does not achieve the stated aim and In fact penalizes them. If easy access to chrons via dilithium extension of voyages is removed it is more likely that those benefiting in galaxy events will be the established players who have deep inventories of common items.
Furthermore, should you be incentivizing newer players by penalizing established players in any case? I would suggest that that is not the ideal behavior in a pay game model.
Data-based arguments without sharing underlying data are not useful.
Data-based arguments that use small sample sizes are not useful.
Claims of solid fact when all that is presented are non-specific anecdotes are not useful.
I would love to see the data you have made these claims off of. All it could do is serve to strengthen your argument.
Well, you probably have not read any other posts of me, if you think I don't use data to back up my claims
I will wager the bold claim that you are unqualified to teach me how to handle data Just throwing out things you heard in passing from people who might or might not understand anything about data analysis, does not make you an expert on the issue. Moreover, in the current context those statements are simply wrong. You assume that once the changes in the voyages happened, the analysis of them just begin. But that's not true. We already have all the historic data to analyze and thus we do not necessarily need a lot of data to make statements about the changes. Lets take the increased drops of trainers as an example. This increase has been massive and thus, considering the historic data, we need only one measly voyage to state with almost certainty that the increase has been considerable. If this increase had been only slight (as sold to us by DB), let's say 2-3%, THEN we would need a whole lot more voyages to make an assessment about that issue. We do not need that in this case.
Same is true for replicator rations.
It's still possible for the crew/dilemma that it's just a "streak of bad luck" (*), but I highly doubt it from what I've seen.
Don't you worry, once everybody runs out of replicator rations/cannot replicate the items as before, everybody will agree, even you.
As long as you don't bring with you the necessary credentials to teach me about how to handle data, please refrain from doing so! Your discretion in this matter is much appreciated.
*) I put the term "streak of bad luck" in quotation marks, since when it comes to DB, this expression has no meaning.
Got it. So we should just trust you without you sharing your data. Well, as I also don't trust DB, I also dont trust random forum posters either. I would be happy to believe you, but since you seem unwilling to show it, it seems like you have something to hide.
I am not saying you are being deceptive, just that the manner in which you are conveying your findings are how they might be presented by someone who was.
Is being skeptical in the absence of compiled evidence unreasonable?
Just for counter-argument, the changes haven't been live long enough to gather enough empirical data to make informed impressions on the overall changes. They just flat haven't.
I'm running a max length 72hr voyage to compare it to the previous 72 hour voyages I've done. I'll also run comparable length voyages to pre-change Voyages I have documented.
Also I think the whole "more crew" thing was poorly worded - I feel it meant they added more exclusive crew and thus you get more of a chance to get 1 of 6 as opposed to the previous 1 of 2.
Overall I knew this day would come, and I'm not wild about it, but I understand it and I'm not losing an ounce of sleep over it. Credits are up, Rep rations appear down and 1* crew are on vacation somewhere sunny, far away from my ship.
I have just been told by customer support that yes we charged you double not once but 3 times but we will not refund the money or credit dilithum and if you want we can credit pack that you never bought to your account. Check ticket 363411. Worst customer service ever.
I have just been told by customer support that yes we charged you double not once but 3 times but we will not refund the money or credit dilithum and if you want we can credit pack that you never bought to your account. Check ticket 363411. Worst customer service ever.
So you escalate to a supervisor telling them they fix it to your satisfaction or you get your refund from Apple/Google/etc while lodging a complaint.
I have just been told by customer support that yes we charged you double not once but 3 times but we will not refund the money or credit dilithum and if you want we can credit pack that you never bought to your account. Check ticket 363411. Worst customer service ever.
That is not exactly what has been told to you. It is true that we cannot initiate a refund for you on iTunes. From what I can tell there might be different issues at play here, like receiving an Apple receipt for purchases made on different days. Please update your ticket with additional screenshots showing your purchase history and all the purchases made - it will help in sorting this out. Thank you!
Yeah, this is a known issue with iTunes. Apple sends two receipts for each purchase. One when you buy and another at the end of the week so it can appear like you are being double charged. If you check your credit card statement you will see you are not being double charged. Or you can go into your iTunes account and you will see 3 charges not 6.
Ok new player here, only about a month also a paying player vip 12 @less then 30, days , and this majorly just cost you a ton of money here why
So i run voyages i buy some dil for them i like to run 10s and 12hrs , but were i really drop my cash is on x10 packs to get chars, and stars, but snice update im buying less and less dil for x10 packs(tho events have picked up a bit)because i cant get enough chron to upgrade the ppl i got much less new chars, and why would i waste dil.on straight buying chron when i only get 50 for 150 when i can run voyages,(higher item chron mission costs only get maybe on or two instead of being able to warp 10)so now i buy less packs because i cant get enough chron to buy more x10 because im still trying to upgrade the ones i got
Im geuss as a cost model what you want are ton of ppl buying as much as they can before they get bored and move on, while retaining as many core plaYers as you can , but were the bread and butter is new players that drop a ton of money then get bored and leave so you wanna milk them fast(im cool with this we all like money)but tho new model makes them spend a bit more maybe but dam going to lose a ton on the money making packs from new players, thus they get bored or lose intrest faster ,allready lost some of mine with the change
But i dont have your spread sheets so maybe im wrong
But i doubt it lol
New chars are fun ,some grinding cool more griinding not so much
Its like being a street walker with a newbie, got to tease that money honey, but play to hard to get and you will lose your john and your rent lol
P.s if your going to run events with away missions make in the right faction, annoying that get new chars with packs and inable to upgrade them till after event because its a fed. faction away mission when new char items is terran or sec 31
I ran a voyage today that went a lil over 7 hrs and only got 194 chrons. Lame. The crew you can only get in voyages all require part 2 or part 3 dilemmas that rarely drop if u only run 6 hrs. Lame.
I ran a voyage today that went a lil over 7 hrs and only got 194 chrons. Lame. The crew you can only get in voyages all require part 2 or part 3 dilemmas that rarely drop if u only run 6 hrs. Lame.
I did a 12hr voyage no SR crew and, a lame amount of chronos. Definitely hit voyages with the nerf bat!
I ran a voyage today that went a lil over 7 hrs and only got 194 chrons. Lame. The crew you can only get in voyages all require part 2 or part 3 dilemmas that rarely drop if u only run 6 hrs. Lame.
I have gotten two of the new characters (Lucien and Manner) and haven't hit the 8hr dilemma in weeks.
I don't have enough seniority or whatever yet to start a new thread, so out of existing threads to use to post an idea, this seemed like the most appropriate choice.
Warning: Wall of Text Ahead. Read at your own risk.
Many players have been asking for new event types, and one of the commonly-expressed desires for a new event type is a "level playing field"... something where a just-joined newbie and a long-time veteran would have an approximately equal chance at winning. Now, to be honest, I have trouble visualizing an event type where that's true, though probably Galaxy events come the closest of what we've already got. Please note: I don't want to get sidetracked into a discussion of the merits or evils of Galaxy events here; I want to put forth a new idea, not rehash old ones.
Something which has to be taken into account from DB's standpoint, of course, is that the event must generate revenue for them. This factor is a prime speculation point of why Expedition events have become all but extinct... opportunities for revenue generation are very slim compared to other event types, and require a much larger investment of man-hours as each Expedition event is like programming an entirely new Chapter for the galaxy map. This factor becomes doubly important when thinking about an entirely new event type, as considerable development resources must be devoted to it before DB can see a return on that investment.
Of course, with the generation of revenue comes the specter of Pay to Win; I simply don't see a way around that, and in a mobile game like this, I doubt it's reasonable. In a way, that in and of itself IS a level playing field, because a newcomer can just as easily choose to spend money as a long-time veteran; but perhaps we can minimize the effect somewhat, while still leaving DB room to generate revenue, and without locking out the F2P players.
The closest non-virtual example I can think of comes from collectible card games: the sealed booster tournament. Every player pays an entry fee, receives a certain number to booster packs, and can use those and only those cards during the tournament.
Now, before you explode about this being a shut-out of F2P people, hear me out.
Suppose for this tournament... call it a "Pot Luck" just for sake of having a label... there are 6 types of event packs, one for each of the 6 skills: CMD, MED, etc. Each pack contains, oh, let's say 5 cards, and costs 400 dilithium each (yes, more expensive per card than normal; hold on a moment). The 5 cards are guaranteed to be crew... no schematics. And each pack is guaranteed to have at least one 4* crew whose primary stat matches the pack type; i.e. a DIP pack would be guaranteed to have at least one 4* crew whose primary stat is Diplomacy. The other four cards in the pack, other than being guaranteed to be crew, would be the standard RNG selection.
Give everyone one pack free of their choice to start with. (This would be like the free 10 pack in the Community Rewards during a Galaxy event, only up front at the beginning of the event.) Let people buy up to 6 more packs of their choice during the event. Only crew received from these event packs can be used in the event.
This is as close to a level playing field as I can think of between newcomers and veterans, and does not lock out F2P people as there are ways, albeit limited, to gain dilithium in game and it could be used to purchase event packs beyond the one free pack.
There is still some advantage for veterans as they will already have a stock of inventory items which could be used for leveling the crew from the event packs, BUT odds are, RNG being what they are, most of the crew they would draw they already have; are they going to spend their items to level crew that they will have no use for after the event? Newcomers won't have an inventory stockpile, but will be motivated to level them as they WILL be useful to them when the event is over.
Now, as to the event type itself... something like the Faction event is probably easiest, though to prevent a huge advantage for veterans, perhaps a different shuttle type, unique to the event, can be used instead -- call them Runabouts -- and everyone gets one for the duration of the event. Maybe you can "lease" an additional Runabout for the duration of the event for 250 dilithium or some such.
To make things even more "level", perhaps the pack-type 4* in each pack is always the same, so everyone will always have that one card to work with, and then whatever other random cards the RNG throws their way. Ideally this means these cards would be new event-only cards -- yes, this would mean 6 new cards for the event (ugh!) -- and then purchase of event packs could be thrown open, without a cap, after the event so that people could FF their new cards if they wished.
This would, I think, generate revenue for DB, is as close as we're likely to get to a level playing field between newcomers and veterans, and doesn't completely lock out F2P people. I doubt there is a perfect solution, and I'm also certain this one could certainly stand some tweaking.
Ok, there's a rough draft of an idea. Let the discussion/shredding commence.
And if someone who CAN start a new thread wants to do so with a quote of this post, please feel free -- you have my permission, nay, my encouragement, to do so.
Comments
Agreed. For those short on trainers, honour can be used to but trainers. So change the trainer rewards to the same amount of honour you would need to buy those trainers and everyone benefits. Or change the prizes to credits and let people buy trainers for credits.
And let those who want trainers buy trainers with merits. That would work too!
I will probably continue to extend voyages because my dil has to go somewhere but it will certainly reduce gameplay for me.
It's a good restriction because I'll stick to my monthly card and not buy any extra dilithium once in a while because there's not a lot of point.
Trainers won't be a problem (I have lots anyway) because I won't have the crew to level. The increase is good at lower levels and will benefit newer players.
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
"Common" component
"Soon"
THAT's what transparency is. Not just a lil less opaque.
- you speak about chronitons about 75% of the statement. Chroniton issue was the only thing that was CORRECTLY announced (ignoring the fact that your command of the English language seems limited, since you don't know what the word "slight" means), so why obsess over this and not a word about the things that changed dramatically and were NOT announced? Makes no sense whatsoever to me.
- You mention the trainer issue with the only and non-expanatory statement, that you changed your mind on that. Why? It's useless junk...simply leaving this unchanged would have been the same to pretty much everybody. So this does not really help.
- Not a single word why crew drops get dramatically decreased instead of increased
- Not a word on why crew drops are significantly down in quantity AND quality (not a single purple and only one blue since the change)
- Not a word on why only crappy dilemmas appear anymore. Not a single dilemma that gives even the chance of blue crew since the dilemma. Not to talk about purple, those are gone forever apparently (for free players), but no word on that.
- Not a word on why replicator rations were all but eliminated as drops...they drop with the same frequency, but the amount is laughable in comparison to before. If you think you gave us too much, that's fine, but also here not a word of communication about this issue.
- No word on why you announced slight 'adjustments' and explicitly (!!!) no major changes but the result is dramatic in every way (and I'm not talking about chronitons, which you seem to be obsessed about).
I am talking from the perspective of someone who does not pay dilithium to extend voyages. Except for the few chronitons voyages have become pretty much useless for me.
You say you want to improve communication and transparency. So far you're off to a really bad start. You issue a statement that explains exactly nothing.
Please do better! I still don't understand what happened and your silence on that issue is deafening.
Thank you!
Just from my own experience, I have received 2 4*s and multiple 3*s since the change and have had at least 1-3 1* crew in all of my voyages. Before, I considered 450 honor for my normal 7:00 voyages a success and I've been mostly hitting that, if falling a little short (which isn't a surprise if they've reduced 1* drops).
I have also received a similar amount of replicator rations as prior to the change (my current voyage, at 6 hours, has 29 3*. Yesterday, I got a handful of 4* and 3*s). Replicator rations were always a high-variance drop. When they drop, you tend to get a large chunk...but sometimes you don't get any. Heck, when voyages were first released, it took a long time to pin down exactly when the different kinds COULD drop because they were that erratic.
The reason they talk about chronotons is because that's the part that actually changed. The rest is because you're looking to extrapolate the results of 3-4 voyages out to the entire feature.
- every statement I made is true. I am highly qualified to use data to make those statements. I seem to be one of the few that base their statements on actual data and not just feelings. When things happen, that never happened before, it's highly likely that it's due to changes. If things happen that never happened before in succession, it's all but certain that it's due to changes. I keep track of all my voyages.
- If you don't like my statement, that's fine. I won't lose a minute of sleep over it. But if you think you can use your opinion about my statement to excuse their bad communication, this will annoy me. Their communication strategy should not be contingent on whether or not you like my statement, not even if one could objectively label my statement as inappropriate. For now I will file this under bad oversight from your side and trust this won't happen again! I am not responsible for the inadequacies of other people!
- 1* crew
- 2* crew
- 3* crew
- 4* crew (regular 4* crew, not just the voyage-exclusive ones)
- replicator rations
- trainers
- honour
- credits!
Thanks!
It was presented to us that there would be more of other things to cushion the lessening (and increased RNG) of chronitons (including credits and crew dropping in general, in addition to voyage-exclusive crew). Yet I see no difference in credits, and possible decrease in crew.
Going by what "slightly less" seems to mean for DB, shouldn't I be able to notice a very significant increase in credits and other things that were going to drop "a little bit more"?
I'll spend less dilithium if voyages aren't worth it to me for credits, crew and honour, especially now that there are far less chronitons. It won't be spent elsewhere in the game; I'll simply spend less. Just like I spent more on voyages than I did before them, because I felt they were a good value.
These communications show disconnect.
~· Fly with the Subspace Eddies! ·~
Data-based arguments that use small sample sizes are not useful.
Claims of solid fact when all that is presented are non-specific anecdotes are not useful.
I would love to see the data you have made these claims off of. All it could do is serve to strengthen your argument.
The only thing I happen to dislike about your statement is the lack of spacing between paragraphs, but I probably use them too much, so I am happy to agree to disagree there.
My opinion. Voyages were very generous for chronitons and it fundamentally changed the game. My spending definitely increased as I could clear several crew a week and so I was playing it like a crew collecting game. My new constraint became faction items and slots, but whilst this was challenging I felt comfortable dropping nearly $50 a month to keep buying crew when the price was right.
Voyages are a very fun gameplay option, and have driven my crew choices for the last few months, and have changed my perception of how deep I want my roster to be and where I want to apply my resources.
I always expected a nerf to chronitons on Voyages, it was very generous. The messaging on this has been very poor however. The use of the word 'slight' is close to a lie.
However, I have no issue with the chron nerf itself, but what I would want to see is better other rewards on voyages. The trainers are essentially no reward, like many others I have more than I can ever use (unless you give us a way to use them). So please replace a lot of the trainer drops with more equipment or honor or merits or something players can still use after a few weeks of gameplay. With less chronitons trainers become even more useless too.
All in all, this voyage nerf doesn't upset me hugely because I expected it, but it will affect my spending because overall Voyages seem to have gotten less useful and so it will lower my ambition and general enthusiasm for the game, which is a pity.
As I said, Voyages are a great gameplay mode and I'd love to see them developed and iterated upon, the chron nerf isn't wildly inappropriate, but the messaging on this has been poor. Please find other, more balanced ways to make Voyages exciting and useful and that means getting rid of useless loot table drops like trainers (and possibly even replicator fuel which is also overabundant).
Well, you probably have not read any other posts of me, if you think I don't use data to back up my claims
I will wager the bold claim that you are unqualified to teach me how to handle data
Same is true for replicator rations.
It's still possible for the crew/dilemma that it's just a "streak of bad luck" (*), but I highly doubt it from what I've seen.
Don't you worry, once everybody runs out of replicator rations/cannot replicate the items as before, everybody will agree, even you.
As long as you don't bring with you the necessary credentials to teach me about how to handle data, please refrain from doing so! Your discretion in this matter is much appreciated.
*) I put the term "streak of bad luck" in quotation marks, since when it comes to DB, this expression has no meaning.
Well said!
Got it. So we should just trust you without you sharing your data. Well, as I also don't trust DB, I also dont trust random forum posters either. I would be happy to believe you, but since you seem unwilling to show it, it seems like you have something to hide.
I am not saying you are being deceptive, just that the manner in which you are conveying your findings are how they might be presented by someone who was.
Is being skeptical in the absence of compiled evidence unreasonable?
I'm running a max length 72hr voyage to compare it to the previous 72 hour voyages I've done. I'll also run comparable length voyages to pre-change Voyages I have documented.
Also I think the whole "more crew" thing was poorly worded - I feel it meant they added more exclusive crew and thus you get more of a chance to get 1 of 6 as opposed to the previous 1 of 2.
Overall I knew this day would come, and I'm not wild about it, but I understand it and I'm not losing an ounce of sleep over it. Credits are up, Rep rations appear down and 1* crew are on vacation somewhere sunny, far away from my ship.
So you escalate to a supervisor telling them they fix it to your satisfaction or you get your refund from Apple/Google/etc while lodging a complaint.
That is not exactly what has been told to you. It is true that we cannot initiate a refund for you on iTunes. From what I can tell there might be different issues at play here, like receiving an Apple receipt for purchases made on different days. Please update your ticket with additional screenshots showing your purchase history and all the purchases made - it will help in sorting this out. Thank you!
So i run voyages i buy some dil for them i like to run 10s and 12hrs , but were i really drop my cash is on x10 packs to get chars, and stars, but snice update im buying less and less dil for x10 packs(tho events have picked up a bit)because i cant get enough chron to upgrade the ppl i got much less new chars, and why would i waste dil.on straight buying chron when i only get 50 for 150 when i can run voyages,(higher item chron mission costs only get maybe on or two instead of being able to warp 10)so now i buy less packs because i cant get enough chron to buy more x10 because im still trying to upgrade the ones i got
Im geuss as a cost model what you want are ton of ppl buying as much as they can before they get bored and move on, while retaining as many core plaYers as you can , but were the bread and butter is new players that drop a ton of money then get bored and leave so you wanna milk them fast(im cool with this we all like money)but tho new model makes them spend a bit more maybe but dam going to lose a ton on the money making packs from new players, thus they get bored or lose intrest faster ,allready lost some of mine with the change
But i dont have your spread sheets so maybe im wrong
But i doubt it lol
New chars are fun ,some grinding cool more griinding not so much
Its like being a street walker with a newbie, got to tease that money honey, but play to hard to get and you will lose your john and your rent lol
I did a 12hr voyage no SR crew and, a lame amount of chronos. Definitely hit voyages with the nerf bat!
I have gotten two of the new characters (Lucien and Manner) and haven't hit the 8hr dilemma in weeks.
A heavy dose of your mileage may vary.
New Year, New Bug
Warning: Wall of Text Ahead. Read at your own risk.
Many players have been asking for new event types, and one of the commonly-expressed desires for a new event type is a "level playing field"... something where a just-joined newbie and a long-time veteran would have an approximately equal chance at winning. Now, to be honest, I have trouble visualizing an event type where that's true, though probably Galaxy events come the closest of what we've already got. Please note: I don't want to get sidetracked into a discussion of the merits or evils of Galaxy events here; I want to put forth a new idea, not rehash old ones.
Something which has to be taken into account from DB's standpoint, of course, is that the event must generate revenue for them. This factor is a prime speculation point of why Expedition events have become all but extinct... opportunities for revenue generation are very slim compared to other event types, and require a much larger investment of man-hours as each Expedition event is like programming an entirely new Chapter for the galaxy map. This factor becomes doubly important when thinking about an entirely new event type, as considerable development resources must be devoted to it before DB can see a return on that investment.
Of course, with the generation of revenue comes the specter of Pay to Win; I simply don't see a way around that, and in a mobile game like this, I doubt it's reasonable. In a way, that in and of itself IS a level playing field, because a newcomer can just as easily choose to spend money as a long-time veteran; but perhaps we can minimize the effect somewhat, while still leaving DB room to generate revenue, and without locking out the F2P players.
The closest non-virtual example I can think of comes from collectible card games: the sealed booster tournament. Every player pays an entry fee, receives a certain number to booster packs, and can use those and only those cards during the tournament.
Now, before you explode about this being a shut-out of F2P people, hear me out.
Suppose for this tournament... call it a "Pot Luck" just for sake of having a label... there are 6 types of event packs, one for each of the 6 skills: CMD, MED, etc. Each pack contains, oh, let's say 5 cards, and costs 400 dilithium each (yes, more expensive per card than normal; hold on a moment). The 5 cards are guaranteed to be crew... no schematics. And each pack is guaranteed to have at least one 4* crew whose primary stat matches the pack type; i.e. a DIP pack would be guaranteed to have at least one 4* crew whose primary stat is Diplomacy. The other four cards in the pack, other than being guaranteed to be crew, would be the standard RNG selection.
Give everyone one pack free of their choice to start with. (This would be like the free 10 pack in the Community Rewards during a Galaxy event, only up front at the beginning of the event.) Let people buy up to 6 more packs of their choice during the event. Only crew received from these event packs can be used in the event.
This is as close to a level playing field as I can think of between newcomers and veterans, and does not lock out F2P people as there are ways, albeit limited, to gain dilithium in game and it could be used to purchase event packs beyond the one free pack.
There is still some advantage for veterans as they will already have a stock of inventory items which could be used for leveling the crew from the event packs, BUT odds are, RNG being what they are, most of the crew they would draw they already have; are they going to spend their items to level crew that they will have no use for after the event? Newcomers won't have an inventory stockpile, but will be motivated to level them as they WILL be useful to them when the event is over.
Now, as to the event type itself... something like the Faction event is probably easiest, though to prevent a huge advantage for veterans, perhaps a different shuttle type, unique to the event, can be used instead -- call them Runabouts -- and everyone gets one for the duration of the event. Maybe you can "lease" an additional Runabout for the duration of the event for 250 dilithium or some such.
To make things even more "level", perhaps the pack-type 4* in each pack is always the same, so everyone will always have that one card to work with, and then whatever other random cards the RNG throws their way. Ideally this means these cards would be new event-only cards -- yes, this would mean 6 new cards for the event (ugh!) -- and then purchase of event packs could be thrown open, without a cap, after the event so that people could FF their new cards if they wished.
This would, I think, generate revenue for DB, is as close as we're likely to get to a level playing field between newcomers and veterans, and doesn't completely lock out F2P people. I doubt there is a perfect solution, and I'm also certain this one could certainly stand some tweaking.
Ok, there's a rough draft of an idea. Let the discussion/shredding commence.
And if someone who CAN start a new thread wants to do so with a quote of this post, please feel free -- you have my permission, nay, my encouragement, to do so.