Cryptic Must Hate Success

I think Cryptic hates success.

This is a fine example of what NOT to do with your Cash Shop and what NOT to do with your newly released licensed IP MMO.

Know what insults me more than the nickel and diming?  Not the fact that Ferengi are only 1/3 the cost of Klingons.  Nope.  It’s that the female Ferengi are…*wince* wearing CLOTHES!    That’s a crime I tell you.

  • well I am eager to see if their numbers will tell that story too. in the past the community was known for its stupidity. maybe they will still make the back over the suckers.
    i am not touching this game as not being a hard core fan. it all sounds like ill intention with the beta opening for preorders, this thing and the unfinished content/too quick release.

    when u have proof of their failure please do post it. will be interesting to read.

  • I tried, I really did, to support these guys but I have to agree with many folks here that they are the McDonalds of mmo’s. I actually think they may be doing harm/setting back the industry.

  • They’ll make money with it. After all, they’ve essentially just removed content that was going to be in at launch and then decided to charge for it instead.

    They’re going to piss off a ton of people though. When making a game based on an IP like Star Trek you’re supposed to cater to the fans, not nickel and dime them. This comment on Massively sums up the fallout they’ll see from stuff like this (and I’m sure this isn’t the end of their stupid ideas):

    “It’s like they are doing everything they can to stop me from convincing ppl to give this a try. I can’t I’ve stopped. I’m onboard for however long that I’m having fun. But I cqan’t look someone in the face and ask them to do this. Good job.”

    Eventually it will go the way of Champions Online.

  • The C-Store is the least of their problems. Boring repetitive quests, a non existent end game, and a shoddy random mission generator are going to cause them to bleed a hell of a lot more subs than charing for federation Klingons.

    The botttom line is pretty obvious here. Cryptic has to know the game isn’t going to last, and they want to make as much money as they can before the ship sinks.

  • Mahlah i must say this towards ur word AMEN! So full of true!!!!!!
    Say no mere guys the truth is upon us!!!!

    Btw thx god for allods online a glimp of light in the horizon!!! waiting for full release of it

  • If only a decent company would have gotten their hands on the IP. I had a preorder of the game I didn’t pick up today that I placed before the beta. After playing the beta I saw that it was just more of the same from Cryptic and am going to avoid this completely.

    It’s a shame.

  • Nickel and diming their players is what I see Cryptic doing all the time now. I am all for RMT and items stores that sell useful items but these guys just don’t just get what should be sold wrong but also how much you should pay. CO’s retcon price is a prime example. It’s almost like to price things out of reach so that they can make the least money from it.

  • I got 500 C-Store points for pre ordering so I think I will get the Ferengi just to piss you off Keen and support the game.

    Hard hitting journalism!

  • Cryptic has successfully killed one of the greatest IPs future hopes of having a decent MMO. Developers are going to look at this case and stay clear of Star Trek for a long while. I really hope Cryptic keeps its paws off some of my other favorite IPs. I just can’t stand watching them butcher everything.

  • But when has there ever been a decent Star Trek game? I don’t know, maybe there’s just too MUCH good stuff that u can do with the IP that developers halfway through making the game just get confused by how much money just lies there waiting to be made with the franchise, and eventually lose track of what’s wright and wrong.

    I’m not a Star Trek fan at all, but as with any good and established IP – I hate to see it doing fans worldwide unjustice like this.

  • Everyone has their pitchforks and torches out to bash this game. I find it surprising as I am enjoying it very much. Most of the things people complain about don’t bother me at all or I find they blow things way out of proportion.

    I was disappointed by CO, but I think Cryptic has a real chance to redeem themselves with STO.

    Cash shops are the way all MMOs are going. This happens in a lot of industries. Look at phone companies — the service gets cheaper and cheaper (to the point of being free like Allods) but they make money by nickel and diming you for all the features. Same thing is happening to the MMO industry.

    But I digress, just surprised at the outcry because I find myself actually enjoying the game quite a bit.

  • I’m also having a great deal of fun with the game. I played CO for the first free month and then canceled, like most people did, but I think STO has real potential to be great. I don’t understand why people dislike it so much.

    Too bad the Ferengi characters look like normal human cosplayers with fake-looking plastic ears. I’m used to seeing their scrunched-up faces with a slight snarl, pointy teeth, not this bored-looking guy who happens to have giant ears.

    It isn’t so far-fetched for the females to wear clothes — women’s rights have been progressing pretty well for them since DS9 days.

  • Keen…at least now whoever first took the Ferengi as a playable race during beta doesn’t have to “burn in a plasma fire” (your words). The only reason that it is 80 points versus 240 is 1.) The Ferengi are so much shorter and 2.) Naturally all the Ferengi Fans struck a better deal.

    And if it helps keep the game afloat the more power to Cryptic. After all 500 points only costs $6.25 that means it only costs an extra dollar to play a Ferengi.

  • I don’t think it’s that Cryptic hate success, I think it’s more that they love money. Shame, damn shame. Yet people are gonna pay for it. New races are very strong incentives to part with your dough.

  • Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force 2 were both very pretty good FPS games. Starfleet Command 1, 2, and even 3 were good ship combat simulation games. Star Trek: Armada and Armada 2 were decent Star Trek RTS games.

    There… some decent Star Trek games.

  • This is the exact reason I stayed far away from ST:O, I knew that their was a lot more of this type of behaviour in store from Cryptic after what they pulled/are pulling with CO. It would take a lot of possitive feedback from fellow bloggers/gamers or some serious business practice changes for me to even consider playing a Cryptic game ever again.

  • @Misaligned

    So then ST:O has no monthly fee or a reduced monthly fee since they are going with the F2P meta transactions?… oh wait no they are charging the standard 14.99 a month.

    Is ST:O had a reduced monthly fee or was completely F2P I would support this sort of business model, but they don’t. They are charging the same per month as WoW, WAR, and every other MMO out there. They THEN decide to charge an extra fee for playable Federation races that have been in the game for months.

    That is a poor business model.

  • wanted to add…

    It shows a huge lack of respect for their potential customers. They are looking at the people buying these games as income sources. Nothing more.

  • Just when you think there is nothing else cryptic can do wrong, they find something else new.

  • I usually agree with Keen on almost everything. But I really do enjoy this game. And so what if there are meta transactions for things I don’t care about at all. You want to play as a different race then offered initially? Pay em some money, Oh well.

    I really like the combat, and as this is a Star Trek game, the fact that the space combat is great counts for a whole lot. Also, the away missions are getting better in quality and the animations on the ground make that component much better than POTBS.

    I guess there is just this unrealistic expectation from people out there about what you can charge money for. I’m a software engineer by trade, and by God if I write some code you better expect to pay out the butt for it. In my industry (retail information systems) companies routinely pay 10,000 a license for software that is lower quality then most video games out there. Keep that in mind.

  • I would willing pay a higher monthly sub than £10, something like £20, for having a finished polished product at release and all the things these other companies charge little amounts for.

    For the amount of time i spend playing these online games the current monthly charge is a bargin, for a more casual player i guess the nickel and dime methodology makes more sense.

  • I don’t see people pissing their pants over joined trill or playable borg, both of which had to be paid for, yet cryptic is the ultimate evil for putting something in the c-store for pre-order players who got 500 points to buy? It’s the same thing, except the klingons and ferengi are available to everyone. Would it be better if the c-store was empty and preorder players were screaming about their useless 500 points instead?

  • PeterD,
    So the fact that Cryptic gave preorders 500 points justifies having Klingon and Ferengi in the C-Store? I don’t buy that. They could have done frivilous items in the C-Store, or other random junk.

    The Klingon and Ferengi give you different stat bonuses. They aren’t just cosmetic.

    Cryptic could have done this in a few different ways without looking like money hungry dbags.

    Option 1) Lower monthly fee and advertise the meta transactions prior to the launch

    Option 2) Standard monthly fee, all major content is included in the game. Allow frivilous items to be purchased through the store

    Option 3) Standard monthly fee, no store, no free points to preorders

  • Dunno why people are saying this is the future – it’s actually the past. Does no-one remember EQ2 charging you an extra subscription fee to have WoW style Armory features.

    Admittedly it was long before WoW’s free Armory was a glint in a web developers eye, and they had features back then that the Armory has only just implemented.

    Interesting to see now it’s coming full circle and the Armory will be adding paid premium services.

  • I would guess this is an experiment on their part. They are trying to see what they can sell that people will pay for.

    Listening to forums/blogs is pointless for this kind of thing. People complain about having to pay anything for anything, justified or not. (As an example, the hoopla around free-if-you-bought-the-game day zero DLC. It’s better than DRM …)