My Thoughts on the Game as a 1yr player circling the drain
![[OPA] Sky Marshall DaYng1](https://us.v-cdn.net/6030345/uploads/userpics/299/n9PPLT64KISI9.jpg)
Hi all,
I have been playing for a year now and I have hit the wall big time with this game. As a vip14+ I have spent enough. I have a decent stable of ff fe legends and many ff fe supers. With the right expenditures and effort I can reliably make sub1k in any event. Why am I thinking of quitting?
This game has no value for me in anything I see being offered. I get a offer for 9.99$ for 10 10x packs. No thanks, pass. I do not see it as a value to get only a 10% chance at something useful (that's if the legend behold isn't all stale oldies) and 95% everything else is airlock fodder. So for 10$ I get 4-10 k honor, no thank you.
When buying boosts the X2 boosts come up way too much. They are effectively a nerf drop for shuttle speed boosts and with so many boosts needed to maintain a comfortable position going into the last 12hrs of events the drop rate of the X2 boosts need to be reworked.
Gauntlet is a joke. All of the newer OP gauntlet characters are pack only and with starbases affecting ranges gauntlets are truly a cool kids club now. Tbh it is more palatable now at least seeing oscillating ranges on the Locutus walls.
Voyages were great, then good, then average, now they are below average with easter egg hunts included to make up for it. No thanks, Not buying.
Galaxy events are a resource black hole with the added spice of the last hour dump. I find them to be enjoyable as waking up handcuffed in the drunk tank.
Any and all comments are appreciated. Longterm player retention will become a issue for you, DB and CBS Studios. Your current model is too greedy.
I have been playing for a year now and I have hit the wall big time with this game. As a vip14+ I have spent enough. I have a decent stable of ff fe legends and many ff fe supers. With the right expenditures and effort I can reliably make sub1k in any event. Why am I thinking of quitting?
This game has no value for me in anything I see being offered. I get a offer for 9.99$ for 10 10x packs. No thanks, pass. I do not see it as a value to get only a 10% chance at something useful (that's if the legend behold isn't all stale oldies) and 95% everything else is airlock fodder. So for 10$ I get 4-10 k honor, no thank you.
When buying boosts the X2 boosts come up way too much. They are effectively a nerf drop for shuttle speed boosts and with so many boosts needed to maintain a comfortable position going into the last 12hrs of events the drop rate of the X2 boosts need to be reworked.
Gauntlet is a joke. All of the newer OP gauntlet characters are pack only and with starbases affecting ranges gauntlets are truly a cool kids club now. Tbh it is more palatable now at least seeing oscillating ranges on the Locutus walls.
Voyages were great, then good, then average, now they are below average with easter egg hunts included to make up for it. No thanks, Not buying.
Galaxy events are a resource black hole with the added spice of the last hour dump. I find them to be enjoyable as waking up handcuffed in the drunk tank.
Any and all comments are appreciated. Longterm player retention will become a issue for you, DB and CBS Studios. Your current model is too greedy.
13
Comments
I would add that the greed and incompetence of the developers also play a big part in this. I'm a lvl "27" VIP but it's almost 2 months since i payed for anything besides the monthly dilithium and I will not start again.
The greed isn't the developers. It's marketing/sales that makes those decisions and then the developers just implement it.
All in all, the game has a lot to give me yet, but I also understand how people who went all in on it would feel like the OP. I always give as an example my alt, who's the absolutely luckiest VIP0 ever. Between the levels of 35 and 40, he turned into a gauntlet powerhouse just through pure luck in the free galaxy event community pulls. In no time, he found himself with Mirror Phlox, Delta Flyer Paris, on a 2VP galaxy he got in a single pull Behold Gowron and Tempted Data, and on the freaking next day, he used those 4 and got a Guinan on a 6th win box, and of course, free Mirror Picard, anyone? Suddenly a simple little VIP0 was actually doing work against the paying people.
I am so glad I went into the game with such a balanced mindset. It really helps me stay in it without feeling burned out on it.
EDIT: as far as the gauntlet goes, to me it's a huge merit and freebie farm now. I don't care about the first place anymore. Dabo is a joke, I haven't won anything on the top row. Arena is all about schematics for ships I don't own. I rarely play galaxy events, but I go all in on Faction events, because the biggest selling point for me is, that I get to check my phone only once in 3 hours, and those let me go about my day with minimal interruptions.
I thought I'd throw that into the mix as well
Shortly after the vault was implemented in the game I wanted the following:
Immortalize all 1/2/3*'s (Finished 3's late October would've finished earlier except for The Duras Sisters)
Immortalize all event 4*'s (All except Waitress Ezri)
Fully Equip and Level all 5*'s
I mostly finished this during the Klingon Mega. Since then the game has had some dead times for me. I still like to fiddle with it and keep up with new things but I don't have any big tasks left. There's the slow task of getting missing 4*'s. Maybe vault most of my crew and just collect 5*'s.
The last good thing added to the game that actually feel like Trek was Voyages. But they just copied that from one of the "Fallout" mini games.
Gauntlet is frankly stupid and is only there because again they just copied a feature from other card collecting games.
DB has run out of ideas. We were told ship battles 2.0 was being worked on. We were told that in 2016. And because DB choses not to share its roadmap the way other games do we are left in the dark.
Those of us who have been playing since the beginning, the game is not really made for us. They game is really made to catch the eye of new players, get whatever money they can out of them and let them move on.
Check out our website to find out more:
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In the Galaxy events you don´t even need to check in every 3 hours though. They purely depend on the number of items you have prefarmed and the Chronitons you have in reserve. You could burn through those in one session or in as many small sessions as you like. Independent from time frames. So they are more relaxed even...
When she was initially released the game did not feature cumulative rank rewards, so my choice was either Ezri or Jazz Odo. I picked Odo. Also the game did not have Voyages or the Gauntlet at that time so a low base 4* wasn't of much value even at 4/4. Odo would be my 2nd best DIP at the time as well.
I did receive 1 copy of her from thresholds but I only had 65 crew slots at the time and no feasible way of fusing her so I had to airlock her.
Of course, currently a 1/5 Jazz Odo isn't that great and a 4/4 Ezri is excellent. So far DB has declined to re-run Holograms are Forever or re-use her in another event.
Check out our website to find out more:
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For me - I started playing between a year and a half to two years ago, purely as an FTP player.
It helped to pass the time and as an avid Star Trek fan since watching TOS as a kid and then TNG, DS9, Voy, Ent, etc. etc. as they came out, it was great for me to see characters that I knew from the series and so I got hooked quite quickly. I didn't know of the forums until much later, so I had to learn the ropes by myself, really.
It was much later on that I started buying the monthly card to help my progress and give me further enjoyment. From there I worked at my crew as much as I could without spending any real money apart from the monthly card. I still remember the thrill of getting my first Legendaries and feeling SO proud of my achievements.
When I discovered this forum and started learning how to do things a bit better, it only added to my enjoyment of this game. I was enticed into buying an occasional pack once in a blue moon, but realised that I could still do very well (by my own standards) without spending more than the monthly card and a little of my time.
I had no intention of spending the sort of money I see so many folks throw at the game, because FOR ME, I got plenty of value from the simple enjoyment I got from it. When I started playing, I was earning fairly decent money and could have afforded to spend a reasonable amount if I really wanted to, but ultimately for me, this was A GAME. I had bills to pay and my money was prioritised on the more fundamental things in my life. Sure - if money were no object, it would have been great to buy packs every week, buy my way up through the ranks and buy better and better crew, but more important things (for me) took precedence.
The big change for me came when I was invited to join a very friendly and helpful fleet. The tips and tactics I learned were amazing, the daily fleet rewards were unbelievable... but more than that, and most importantly for me, were the wonderful friendships that I forged with people I'd never met in person, scattered across the globe. It is that community of like-minded folk who play this game for such a wide range of reasons that keeps me here.
I had some major upsets in my life last year, and the support I had from these like-minded fans of Star Trek really kept my head above water when I needed it most. When I came out of hospital after fairly difficult surgery and then lost the roof over my head two weeks later, this game kept my focus on something less depressing than my life had become. I couldn't afford the monthly card at first, but it didn't matter - it was something I enjoyed. I withdrew from the fleet because I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep up with things and was welcomed a few days later into a very easy going and super friendly bunch in Delta House, who kept me ticking along until I could find my feet again. I'm now back with my original and first fleet again and I couldn't be happier. I still have no money, but I scrape enough together for my monthly card and even splashed out a little for my birthday and Christmas on a couple of bits and bobs. I'm now VIP 8, but it hasn't been easy. I've had to work at it, but it was all worth it FOR ME. This may be just a game, but for me, the enjoyment I still get now came from my interaction with the wonderful friends I have in my fleet and will keep me playing for that and that alone.
I'm sorry for the OP in that he hasn't had the level of fulfillment that he wanted, or hasn't been happy with certain things in the game itself, but try to look at things from the perspective of someone who doesn't feel the need to spend a vast sum of money to get a good deal of enjoyment from this game.
I've had some good luck and some bad luck in-game, but I'm grateful for what it HAS given me. Not the chrons given out, or the Gauntlet rewards, nor that 5th Mirror Picard that unexpectedly dropped in my lap last year...
I'm grateful to still be alive at the end of the day and I'm most grateful to have my friends in the two fleets I was lucky enough to find. Nobody looks down on me because I don't spend $100s every week... Nobody thinks any less of me because I don't have the newest ships or the baddest Gauntlet crew. Money simply couldn't buy the sort of things I love about this game and how it entrances a whole community of folk who share the same fondness for what has been an amazing and eye-opening universe of sci-fi magic.
Sorry. I've gone on longer than I'd originally intended, but please don't give up on things if they make you happy! And when, or if they do stop making you feel that way, sometimes it helps to take a step back and try to work out why it's happened.
Live long and prosper!
That said, I do see all of these points. I don't know what the solution is. I keep hearing complaints about things like the nerfing of voyages, and to be honest, to a point I think those kinds of barriers are necessary to keep the game engaging. There was a period a few months ago where I was entirely caught up on my backlog of crew. I went almost a week without anyone to equip or level. It was, frankly, boring. The staleness of the game was disappointing.
There's also a "wash, rinse, repeat" aspect to the crew collecting part of the game that is also stale. There are still crew I want that I don't have, but increasingly fewer. And like the OP, my portal pulls have stopped being lucrative to the point I'm not sure there's much point in me even bothering with the 10/$10 offer anymore. And I've still been VIP for less time than I was F2P.
I don't know what the solution is. I want the game to be enjoyable and successful. I'm still getting enough out of it that I don't have any plans to stop soon, but I am increasingly mindful that day seems to be getting closer.
There are diminishing returns for players that spend. The first pack you buy u are guaranteed to have no garbage. I was dumb enough to buy elusive treasures the other day.
25% of beholds got airlocked.
0 legendary
First time in a long time I dropped money and it will be the last for a very long time.
If I continue to spend I’m guessing that percentage will increase. Don’t even want to think about what the whales must be airlocking.
I’m with you on this. All that is really out there is more stars for legendaries. They drop so infrequently, let alone the few that you want, that it’s not worth it to buy packs. So I just say I’ll do it through citations but you can’t get enough honor to do that without buying packs. At this point, the 30 pulls for $50 usually gets me one more star on a legendary and maybe 30% of the way to getting a citation. Lately when I’ve spent money here I say to myself that was so not worth it, I wish I would not have done it. The Elusive Treasures was the one thing I’m glad I got in a while. Got a few characters that were pack only and I absolutely refuse to do that. I really wanted L’Rell but she is pack only. Maybe I will see you in the next Elusive Treasures my dear
I will eventually start doing that, but I still have lots of super rares in the pipeline. Until that's the case, unless I really like the legendary crew offered (like it was with Zhiantara Odo), it's the 130k VP and peace out strat for me. I still have lots of work to do until then.
Bear you are the most incredible person I ever met. I know a half dozen people easy in the game that faced struggles such as yours and persevered. I'm honoured to have had you in our humble Delta House. Freedom Fighters shared the space in that fleet proudly with Ground Birds of Prey. I wish you well and hope you continue to find joy in the moment. As do I wish, for all my former playing friends and former fleet mates.
Best Wishes
E. Dax
Sadly Sulu I have to disagree with you about the greed part. Everything else you said is pretty spot on though. Also about voyages another poster said that they way they were before nerf killed people's drive to grind and way unbalanced galaxy events. That is also a valid point
I have 40+ level 10 ff super rares just sitting waiting to be leveled. I have 60+ 1/5-4/5 legends sitting waiting to be leveled. I have 10 mil credits and 26k chrons and I can't even force myself to care. I don't do dailies anymore, I don't replicate, and I am just logging to collect free easy stuff.
We as a community have been through all this before. The exchange rate for honor would be considered a crime in some countries, gauntlet is a junk slot machine that spits out trainers so much it makes you want to throw your phone against a wall, Dabo is a long, long, long running joke on us, even when you get a legend behold there is no degree of usefulness gauranteed, and on, and on, and on.
One of the main things that really kills it for me is to finish between 100-200 in a event costs 15-20$ every event in dil for joke rewards that they refuse to change. I always took pride in trying to push for my team and help get us in the top 20. The current reward system is a dated dinosaur that does not equal the expense to obtain them.
Sorry, why would you want to finish in position 100 to 200? I see no reason too as you get the same rewards in the sub 1000 category?
I am actually sandbagging this event in order to finish in position 1001-1500; I just cant take another 1/5* SEC character and in doing so I will save my DYS offer for something useful. Sure I'll miss out on 550 honour and a few extra airlocked pulls but I'm not stressing about it and saving all important speed boosts.
I agree with the OP in some respects, but you don't have to spend; take a break, just do the monthly dil or even become FTP for a while. Packs don't offer value so I'm just coasting saving my dil for when an event pack excites me, or refreshing voyages when I forgot to click return.
Jim
I've been playing since launch day, and while there are things that annoy me and I will call DB out when I believe they've made a mistake, on a whole I gain far more net enjoyment than I do frustration.
I play a lot of Hearthstone, and I will share the same thing I say to people who get super salty playing it: if you aren't enjoying the game, and if a game makes you this mad, then don't play. Very simple. But don't try to justify your rage by demanding we all rage out too.
Tour of duty: January 2016 to present.
Shut up Wesley.
My apologies if you took this post the wrong way. It was not my intention to be so emotional with the delivery of my message. I merely wanted to share my feelings and thoughts on the game in my position and encourage others in a similar situation to share theirs.
I do not have enough money to "steamroll" anyone or "finish" the game by collecting everything. What I consider as "value" is very subjective to my situation. I have the resources in spades to be successful but the current state of the game makes me apathetic.
The game is stale. It needs to be reworked in many areas to be more balanced and fun. Events of late have been FUBAR and with DB's head in the sand approach I wouldn't be surprised if they get worse.
Add on top off all that the increased price of admission to a decent non galaxy event rank and grinding for legends. The way things are it's just not worth it to me anymore.
Yes, what appears to be greed does bother me significantly.
I have already posted a number of times on what changes I think should be made to improve the game. Just simply making the events fair and taking the money out of the equation of the events themselves would go a long. long ways towards improving the game for everyone. A game should be a game and not about who can buy a win. Simply making the events about who has prepared the best would drastically improve the events and I believe players overall satisfaction. Removing chronotons sales during galaxy events and speeding up shuttles with dilithium during faction events would make the events far more equatable and enjoyable. IMHO
Let's not be naive here. DB has every right to allow PTW aspects in events. Events are the money makers and if advantages are made available to all players with a proper notice and adequate time to use the advantage, game on.
Without boosts, speed ups, and chron packs events would be whale owned. I also am in a good fleet with good friends. My real problem is this. With the evolution of the game since discovery DB has not kept pace with the increased competitiveness and the cost associated.
It is real hard for me to try to justify competing for my colors when the expenditures do not come anywhere close to the rewards garnered. All across the board I feel like I am spinning on 1 rigged roulette table after another while given free peanuts to chew on.
I would disagree with that. For me, being only 20k above the VIP14 (in comparison to other "whales"), and having vastly inferior crew in comparion to many other players, my fleetmates included, I am still very competitive in Faction events (scoring top 250 easily) without spending any dilithium. I am inferior in galaxy events, but it is though MY OWN choice, because until I have immortalized a sufficient amount of crew, Galaxy events, unless the crew offered is near and dear to me (like Zhiantara Odo), mean 130k VP and peace out.
STT is a game of patience. I wish I'd know it existed, and I'd started way back in 2016, honestly. Had I done that, with my own specific mindest, I would have been a VIP0 as well.
"DB has every right to allow PTW aspects in events"
Having the right to do something and it being the right thing to do are two different things.
Tell me how that practice is different from bribing a umpire, referee, or other game official?
The thing is If I was DB, I would be worried about that practice even if all my lawyers are saying it's not prohibited by the gaming laws and regulations. Laws get reinterpreted all the time and just because you think you have the system beat does not mean it's not going to catch up with you. For example, ask the guys at Enron or many or of Wall Street traders in the 80's and 90's.
Sure that is a worse case scenario but isn't it better to simply do the right thing to begin with?
Plus I would argue that there are several minor changes BD could make that would not cut into their profits by simply making/changing the dynamic of the game to a competition and events about preparation.