Go to the main site: www.startrekonline.com/ 

Right smack dab on the front page is a bonus offer if you buy the game from Wal-Mart:

500 Skill Points and Increased Captain Stats!

No details on Wal-Mart's site, but the very notion that Wal-Mart customers are getting such an obvious boost in the game seems a little shady to me. I'm remembering all those assurances that players wouldn't be able to buy anything in the Cryptic Store that would affect gameplay. Apparently, that doesn't apply to buying the game from specific retailers.

LOL

10 chars min

Well if you knew much about the game mechanic you'd know that its just a headstart in skillpoints. Five hundred skillpoints is about two missions worth. So, its a half an hour headstart. It's nothing. Just as useless as the automated defense turret on the steam download lol, and the armour.

Originally posted by Maverz290

Well if you knew much about the game mechanic you'd know that its just a headstart in skillpoints. Five hundred skillpoints is about two missions worth. So, its a half an hour headstart. It's nothing. Just as useless as the automated defense turret on the steam download lol, and the armour.

I'm aware of the mechanics, but an advantage is an advantage. It's a matter of principle.

honestly its brillant!it garanty shelf to one of the biggest store

but i got to say most store ,walmart included would rater have the card thing(a la f2p)like maplestory ,and all the other

since you can always get what you need in the game iteself after saw 1 display they had like 50 title (card format)and you could buy item ,and all kind of stuff so soon even our p2p game will go to that format since it cost a lot less to ship.

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Originally posted by LordDraekon
Go to the main site: www.startrekonline.com/ 
Right smack dab on the front page is a bonus offer if you buy the game from Wal-Mart:
500 Skill Points and Increased Captain Stats!
No details on Wal-Mart's site, but the very notion that Wal-Mart customers are getting such an obvious boost in the game seems a little shady to me. I'm remembering all those assurances that players wouldn't be able to buy anything in the Cryptic Store that would affect gameplay. Apparently, that doesn't apply to buying the game from specific retailers.

---

Can you elaborate a bit more on how much advantage over other players you get with W-Mart retail?

Also, as far as I know, Cryptioc Store consist of 2 exceptional Federation races only, no W-Mart offer of the game.

this thread is such a loser thread.

Every retailer had different perks. Walmart has 500 skill points (which is nothing really). Other stores have one or more of the following, and more that probably escape me:

 - Cryptic points (to buy stuff like extra races, costume options, etc)

- Exclusive ships like the original series Enterprise (better than the starting ship)

- Special armor (better than what you can get in the beginning)

- Special items

- Special emotes

Not sure what your beef is with Walmart, but if anything, Walmart has the lamest of the rewards lol

Meh, they just want to you to pick up different copies for all the different starterperks. More games do that over time when they release a new package with new bonus stuff, STO just does it all at the same time :/

Originally posted by LordDraekon

 

I'm aware of the mechanics, but an advantage is an advantage. It's a matter of principle.

WOOHOOO a 30 minute advantage. It does not change your end game total of skill points.

FIGHT ON Keyboard Warrior

  I got some body armour, few emotes, nice ship designation, the auto defense and cryptic points. Screw the skill points lol. All I want is the NX designation hehe.

I agree the walmart offer is rather lame in comparison to some of the other offers, that said others may think it differently..  I quess that makes Cryptic rather smart to give the consumers choices eh?

Originally posted by Fed1

Originally posted by LordDraekon

 

I'm aware of the mechanics, but an advantage is an advantage. It's a matter of principle.

 

WOOHOOO a 30 minute advantage. It does not change your end game total of skill points.

FIGHT ON Keyboard Warrior

This... Honestly People get mad over the Oddest things... And will let Real game changers slide right by.

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

Originally posted by WizardBlack

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

It's just that thing called not caring based on subjective boundaries above the zero. They don't care because it hasn't crossed their lines, while it has crossed for other people which are now complaining. These will be tomorrow's complainers when they take the next step and the ones who had their lines crossed already may have lost the will to resist this milking of gamers, because being unorganized makes wallet voting ineffective (I'm really concerned with how STO will do though).

People need to stop being indifferent just because they don't care, and accept when they are being harmed, we are all gamers here, and consumers (unless you're involved with the other side, in this case you will defend it no matter what as it raises your paycheck while giving the consumer nothing besides reduction of what they get).

The harm to what you get is there, not caring doesn't make the harm disappear, instead lets them take a step further.

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by WizardBlack

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

It's just that thing called not caring based on subjective boundaries above the zero. They don't care because it hasn't crossed their lines, while it has crossed for other people which are now complaining. These will be tomorrow's complainers when they take the next step and the ones who had their lines crossed already may have lost the will to resist this milking of gamers, because being unorganized makes wallet voting ineffective (I'm really concerned with how STO will do though).

People need to stop being indifferent just because they don't care, and accept when they are being harmed, we are all gamers here, and consumers (unless you're involved with the other side, in this case you will defend it no matter what as it raises your paycheck while giving the consumer nothing besides reduction of what they get).

The harm to what you get is there, not caring doesn't make the harm disappear, instead lets them take a step further.

Well considering MMO companies endorse/facilitate the buying/selling of fully geared top level toons and gear , I don't see how the boundary can go any higher. Nor do I see the posters here complaining on those other games forums about your so called principles/boundaries.

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by WizardBlack

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

It's just that thing called not caring based on subjective boundaries above the zero. They don't care because it hasn't crossed their lines, while it has crossed for other people which are now complaining. These will be tomorrow's complainers when they take the next step and the ones who had their lines crossed already may have lost the will to resist this milking of gamers, because being unorganized makes wallet voting ineffective (I'm really concerned with how STO will do though).

People need to stop being indifferent just because they don't care, and accept when they are being harmed, we are all gamers here, and consumers (unless you're involved with the other side, in this case you will defend it no matter what as it raises your paycheck while giving the consumer nothing besides reduction of what they get).

The harm to what you get is there, not caring doesn't make the harm disappear, instead lets them take a step further.

No, it's that those of us with a firm grip on reality know how to pick our battles. We recognize that hey this 500 skill pts isn't a big deal because it's easy and fast to get, but you better believe if it was 50K skill points then yes there'd be an uproar.

Originally posted by Fed1

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by WizardBlack

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

It's just that thing called not caring based on subjective boundaries above the zero. They don't care because it hasn't crossed their lines, while it has crossed for other people which are now complaining. These will be tomorrow's complainers when they take the next step and the ones who had their lines crossed already may have lost the will to resist this milking of gamers, because being unorganized makes wallet voting ineffective (I'm really concerned with how STO will do though).

People need to stop being indifferent just because they don't care, and accept when they are being harmed, we are all gamers here, and consumers (unless you're involved with the other side, in this case you will defend it no matter what as it raises your paycheck while giving the consumer nothing besides reduction of what they get).

The harm to what you get is there, not caring doesn't make the harm disappear, instead lets them take a step further.

 

Well considering MMO companies endorse/facilitate the buying/selling of fully geared top level toons and gear , I don't see how the boundary can go any higher. Nor do I see the posters here complaining on those other games forums about your so called principles/boundaries.

Can you point me to the official marketplace area for such endorsed/facilitated transactions? Apparently I've never known developers want long-term players to sell their characters to some new player that won't know how to play or what makes them play and then leave, nor do I see it being talked about on forums/in-game besides the occasional conspiration theories on how developers run gold selling activities and want to dominate the world.

Oh, so no one ever complained about what Cryptic is selling for real money on STO/CO forums? All the threads and hundreds/thousands of posts about the C-Store, CO's Vibora Bay, Liberated Borgs, Pre-order goodies are part of my imagination?

@ darkpath19

Which means you don't care, even though 500 extra SPs is the smallest reason one would have to complain about Cryptic's revenue methods it isn't nonexistent.

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by Fed1

Originally posted by EricDanie

Originally posted by WizardBlack

What happens when next time it is 50k points when you buy it at some boutique that charges $5 more than anyone else? Do you guys not understand the concept of principle? Perhaps that gray area that keeps creeping the way you don't want it to? Have you ever heard the phrase "Give them an inch; they take a mile"? Perhaps to quote Picard; "This far; no further!"

It's just that thing called not caring based on subjective boundaries above the zero. They don't care because it hasn't crossed their lines, while it has crossed for other people which are now complaining. These will be tomorrow's complainers when they take the next step and the ones who had their lines crossed already may have lost the will to resist this milking of gamers, because being unorganized makes wallet voting ineffective (I'm really concerned with how STO will do though).

People need to stop being indifferent just because they don't care, and accept when they are being harmed, we are all gamers here, and consumers (unless you're involved with the other side, in this case you will defend it no matter what as it raises your paycheck while giving the consumer nothing besides reduction of what they get).

The harm to what you get is there, not caring doesn't make the harm disappear, instead lets them take a step further.

 

Well considering MMO companies endorse/facilitate the buying/selling of fully geared top level toons and gear , I don't see how the boundary can go any higher. Nor do I see the posters here complaining on those other games forums about your so called principles/boundaries.

Can you point me to the official marketplace area for such endorsed/facilitated transactions? Apparently I've never known developers want long-term players to sell their characters to some new player that won't know how to play or what makes them play and then leave, nor do I see it being talked about on forums/in-game besides the occasional conspiration theories on how developers run gold selling activities and want to dominate the world.

Oh, so no one ever complained about what Cryptic is selling for real money on STO/CO forums? All the threads and hundreds/thousands of posts about the C-Store, CO's Vibora Bay, Liberated Borgs, Pre-order goodies are part of my imagination?

@ darkpath19

Which means you don't care, even though 500 extra SPs is the smallest reason one would have to complain about Cryptic's revenue methods it isn't nonexistent.

I understand where your coming from on the principle, but this amongst all the other problems people are complaining about, just looks so shallow, as im sure if it was on its own in the arguements against Cryptic, it'd carry more of a punch because right now, people have more important things to complain about.

I wonder if you've played the game to know exactly how little an advantage that is? It's not even worth it. We just choose to pick our battles and fight at a better time. If you constantly complain at the smallest things, when big things come and you want your voice heard, everyone is numb to it for prior complaining. It's all about choosing when to say 'thats enough'.

 It's a trivial arguement. 500 skillpoints free, is a huge difference to 50k.

Originally posted by EricDanie

Can you point me to the official marketplace area for such endorsed/facilitated transactions? Apparently I've never known developers want long-term players to sell their characters to some new player that won't know how to play or what makes them play and then leave, nor do I see it being talked about on forums/in-game besides the occasional conspiration theories on how developers run gold selling activities and want to dominate the world.

Oh, so no one ever complained about what Cryptic is selling for real money on STO/CO forums? All the threads and hundreds/thousands of posts about the C-Store, CO's Vibora Bay, Liberated Borgs, Pre-order goodies are part of my imagination?

@ darkpath19

Which means you don't care, even though 500 extra SPs is the smallest reason one would have to complain about Cryptic's revenue methods it isn't nonexistent.

Here is the SOE one - Toons - Coin - Gear...
 

http://www.livegamer.com/

www.startrekonline.com/retail

Every single retailer that carries the game has its own special incentives attached to it, as can be seen when clicking the details button associated with a specific retailer or version shown on that page.

500 SP is nothing, frankly it is so little that to call it an advantage at all is quite the exaggeration. When one takes the time to consider how Cryptic changed there stance on Skill Point caps, it quickly becomes crystal clear that 500SP makes absolutely no difference at all in the long run, because you are guaranteed to catch up.