I posted this in another thread , but on second thought, I found this was deserving of it's own thread. People wonder what it is about Cryptic and STO that evokes such passion ? It's the contempt and hubris they have .

Here's what kills me :

Rekhan

To celebrate the launch of Champions Online: Free for All and the one year anniversary of Star Trek Online, we’ll be discounting the price of Lifetime Subscriptions for both games by 20%! The sale starts January 25 at 6 a.m. Pacific and ends February 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific. This means players will be able to purchase a Lifetime Subscription to Champions Online: Free for All or Star Trek Online for just $239.99!

This is absolutely hilarious . They announce that CO goes F2P on Jan 25 and post this crap ! Wow , they think people are as dumb as door stops.  This borders on unethical behavior. When you really give it some thought, you're really just paying full price for STO. Cryptic has hit a new low. Anyone who takes advantage of this , I have land for sale, in NJ. The thread goes on to argue that a regular LT is $ 299 and they don't forsee it dropping much past what they've discounted now. I'm pretty sure "we just don't get it. "

Originally posted by AG-Vuk

I posted this in another thread , but on second thought, I found this was deserving of it's own thread. People wonder what it is about Cryptic and STO that evokes such passion ? It's the contempt and hubris they have .

Here's what kills me :

Rekhan

To celebrate the launch of Champions Online: Free for All and the one year anniversary of Star Trek Online, we’ll be discounting the price of Lifetime Subscriptions for both games by 20%! The sale starts January 25 at 6 a.m. Pacific and ends February 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific. This means players will be able to purchase a Lifetime Subscription to Champions Online: Free for All or Star Trek Online for just $239.99!

This is absolutely hilarious . They announce that CO goes F2P on Jan 25 and post this crap ! Wow , they think people are as dumb as door stops.  This borders on unethical behavior. When you really give it some thought, you're really just paying full price for STO. Cryptic has hit a new low. Anyone who takes advantage of this , I have land for sale, in NJ. The thread goes on to argue that a regular LT is $ 299 and they don't forsee it dropping much past what they've discounted now. I'm pretty sure "we just don't get it. "

A lifetime membership to F2P CO would mean full access plus free cryptic buxx every month.  So if you didn't even play the game for the next 5 months, you'd log in to find enough to buy, probably anything you might want.

If LotRO did this, I woulda snatched it up in a second.  But neither of Cryptics games are worth a lifer sub.  If they announced $240 to get BOTH games, it wouldn't be worth it.  In STO I end up completing their content on the free weekends, anyway.

this makes a lot of sense form a business perspective.

most people think sto is going f2p soon.. so why not sell lifetime memberships for the game as soon you probably wont need a sub. get the money while you can. and its not like selling lts then going f2p will damage cryptics reputation, it wont cost them customers, as anyone who has a lts cant really "leave" and the die hards wont leave no matter what. and anyone who actually looks in to a game before buying it is going to be aware of cryptics business practices, so its not like it will hurt their reputation.

i honestly do not see a downside on this from cryptic's point of  view. as a customer.... well, buyer beware.

Originally posted by raistalin69

this makes a lot of sense form a business perspective.

most people think sto is going f2p soon.. so why not sell lifetime memberships for the game as soon you probably wont need a sub. get the money while you can. and its not like selling lts then going f2p will damage cryptics reputation, it wont cost them customers, as anyone who has a lts cant really "leave" and the die hards wont leave no matter what. and anyone who actually looks in to a game before buying it is going to be aware of cryptics business practices, so its not like it will hurt their reputation.

 

i honestly do not see a downside on this from cryptic's point of  view. as a customer.... well, buyer beware.

Raistalin, WOAH! That is about the nicest thing I have ever seen you post about cryptic. There just may be hope for you yet! :)

Originally posted by AG-Vuk

I posted this in another thread , but on second thought, I found this was deserving of it's own thread. People wonder what it is about Cryptic and STO that evokes such passion ? It's the contempt and hubris they have .

Here's what kills me :

Rekhan

To celebrate the launch of Champions Online: Free for All and the one year anniversary of Star Trek Online, we’ll be discounting the price of Lifetime Subscriptions for both games by 20%! The sale starts January 25 at 6 a.m. Pacific and ends February 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific. This means players will be able to purchase a Lifetime Subscription to Champions Online: Free for All or Star Trek Online for just $239.99!

This is absolutely hilarious . They announce that CO goes F2P on Jan 25 and post this crap ! Wow , they think people are as dumb as door stops.  This borders on unethical behavior. When you really give it some thought, you're really just paying full price for STO. Cryptic has hit a new low. Anyone who takes advantage of this , I have land for sale, in NJ. The thread goes on to argue that a regular LT is $ 299 and they don't forsee it dropping much past what they've discounted now. I'm pretty sure "we just don't get it. "

A Little something to consider:

We haven't sold CO LTS subs since launch. We brought them back due to popular demand by our playerbase, after announcing the Champions Online: Free for All conversion on 10/26/10. We announced the return of the CO LTS on 11/11/10.

Lifetime Subscribers to Champions Online enjoy all the benefits of having a subscription to the game, including a monthly stipend of Cryptic Points to spend as the wish in our C-Store. For the cost of roughly twenty months of subscription time, only this subscription offer lasts the life of the product.  In short, I, and others, still beleive that a lifetime subscription to your favorite MMO (whether that be CO, STO, LOTRO, or any other game) is quite possibly the best possible value for your entertainment dollars.

Lifetime subscriptions to Star Trek Online have been available since before the game launched. Many players have purchased them, and while I freely admit that not everyone who has done so is happy with their purchase; many, many more are. Even some of our staunchest critics with lifetime subscriptions will (and have) stated that they are happy with their purchase of a STO lifetime sub.

We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Should we decide to do so in the future, Lifetime subscribers will continue to have the benefits of being a Lifetime Subscriber they do today, as well as the monthly stipend of Cryptic Points that Champions Online Lifetime Subscribers will soon be enjoying.

We're celebrating the launch of Champioons Online: Free for All, and Star Trek Online's one year anniversary by holding a sale. We're offering our customers a discount on the services we provide, which we (and many others) beleive holds value.

If you disagree, well, then this sale simply isn't meant for you, and I'm sorry that it's offended you.

Thanks,

Stormshade

Wow, Stormshade! Nice to see you over here on these forums!  I do agree with you on LT subs. I bought sto LT before it even released. I have never regretted that purchase! Granted there are a lot of issues I have with STO itself, I look to the future of what I think STO is going to be and I am proud to be a lifer! Now, about some of those STO fixes...... :)

Let's see... if you could have stacked up a bunch of those game codes for 2.50, that means a LTS would pay itself off in..... 8 years.....

Yeah....

Anyone who buys a lifetime sub for STO at this point, deserves what they get... (and there are probably a few other things they deserve and won't get... I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks).

Respect @ STORMSHADE for Posting here ...

While we have your attantion ... could you confirm if STO will be going F2P within the next 18 months ?

{Mod Edit}

Originally posted by GnatBug

Respect @ STORMSHADE for Posting here ...

While we have your attantion ... could you confirm if STO will be going F2P within the next 18 months ?

You know that band that was Playing on the Deck of the Titanic ... right untill the end ... You have to repect that kind of commitment! But the sad part is that no amount of music.... stopped the ship from sinking!

After the band died playing music on the Titanic, WhiteStar billed thier families for the lost uniformes...

Old Stormmy is a PAID Craptic employee, and while I personally do not have anything against him, his company is the lowest of the low.

"twenty months of subscription time"--- at 2 bucks 50 cents 300 lifetime is closer to 120 months. And most of the people I know gave up on the game after 2 weeks. (including myself)

"I freely admit that not everyone who has done so is happy with their purchase..." Wait, I agree as well

"We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now." You should incert the word publicly into your statement.

                We have no public plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Let's talk again in about 8 months.

You seem like a nice guy Stormshade, and it kind of pains me to get all flamy here, but I loathe your company. They take intellectual properties and chop them for a quick buck. They pander to the people who know that this is the closest thing we will ever to see to a Star Trek MMO. And now their sights are set upon Neverwinter, and that's just not cool...

Originally posted by Stormshade

 

A Little something to consider:

We haven't sold CO LTS subs since launch. We brought them back due to popular demand by our playerbase, after announcing the Champions Online: Free for All conversion on 10/26/10. We announced the return of the CO LTS on 11/11/10.

......rambling advertisement .........

We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Should we decide to do so in the future, Lifetime subscribers will continue to have the benefits of being a Lifetime Subscriber they do today, as well as the monthly stipend of Cryptic Points that Champions Online Lifetime Subscribers will soon be enjoying.

We're celebrating the launch of Champioons Online: Free for All, and Star Trek Online's one year anniversary by holding a sale. We're offering our customers a discount on the services we provide, which we (and many others) beleive holds value.

If you disagree, well, then this sale simply isn't meant for you, and I'm sorry that it's offended you.

Thanks,

Stormshade

 As community manger it's your job to defend the position of your employers, that however  doesn't make you privy to the plans for the product. While everything you state is absolutely true, with regards to Cryptic's actions on the CO boards, it doesn't reflect the facts absent from the offer . That CO  will in effect be F2P the day the offer goes live , it's what Cryptic is banking on . Another stroke of marketing genius on Cryptics part.  Then they wonder why they are quickly becoming despised.  The lack of disclosure and obscurantism in Cryptics statements are at the heart of the matter.

Well i think this is a bargain, i know i can look forward to hours upon hours of End Game Play.

Originally posted by AG-Vuk

Originally posted by Stormshade

 

A Little something to consider:

We haven't sold CO LTS subs since launch. We brought them back due to popular demand by our playerbase, after announcing the Champions Online: Free for All conversion on 10/26/10. We announced the return of the CO LTS on 11/11/10.

......rambling advertisement .........

We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Should we decide to do so in the future, Lifetime subscribers will continue to have the benefits of being a Lifetime Subscriber they do today, as well as the monthly stipend of Cryptic Points that Champions Online Lifetime Subscribers will soon be enjoying.

We're celebrating the launch of Champioons Online: Free for All, and Star Trek Online's one year anniversary by holding a sale. We're offering our customers a discount on the services we provide, which we (and many others) beleive holds value.

If you disagree, well, then this sale simply isn't meant for you, and I'm sorry that it's offended you.

Thanks,

Stormshade

 As community manger it's your job to defend the position of your employers, that however  doesn't make you privy to the plans for the product. While everything you state is absolutely true, with regards to Cryptic's actions on the CO boards, it doesn't reflect the facts absent from the offer . That CO  will in effect be F2P the day the offer goes live , it's what Cryptic is banking on . Another stroke of marketing genius on Cryptics part.  Then they wonder why they are quickly becoming despised.  The lack of disclosure and obscurantism in Cryptics statements are at the heart of the matter.

As an Online Community Representative, it's my job to represent the concerns of the Star Trek Online, and Champions Online community here in the offices of Cryptic Studios. In other words, when my players get mad, I get to run around the office and yell at people on their behalf. When my players are happy, I get to walk around and pat everyone on the shoulder.

This sale for discounted Lifetime Subs begins on the day that Champions Online becomes free to play. We're well aware of that, and we're certainly not hiding it. The sale also doesn't end until Friday the week following. This means, that if you are coming back to the game as a free player, or just trying it out for the first time, you have almost two weeks to try out Champions, and make a decision regarding the purchase of a Lifetime Sub during this sale.

So here's the deal:

We're holding a sale. The sale lasts for almost two weeks. I hope you guys will consider trying out one, or both, of our titles during that time. If you like what you see, and you enjoy the game/s, and the many improvements we've made to them, I hope you'll consider playing for awhile. Maybe even become a subscriber. If you think you'll be playing the game for some time, consider a lifetime subscription. If you don't enjoy the game or games that we offer, then save your money and spend it on something you will enjoy.

No pressure. No gimmiks. It's your call. The only thing you have to lose is a few hours. Something I don't think you'll actually find as a loss.

Thanks,

Stormshade

well there you go, straight from stormshade's keyboard. they know they are ripping people off and have no problem with it.

they are selling lts to a f2p game the same day it goes ftp.

read my earlier post, this is about money and cryptic understands that their reputation is so bad they really can not hurt it at this point.

edit- hey didnt cryptic have a manager from hellgate london that sold LTS then closed the servers a month later?

Originally posted by raistalin69

well there you go, straight from stormshade's keyboard. they know they are ripping people off and have no problem with it.

they are selling lts to a f2p game the same day it goes ftp.

 

read my earlier post, this is about money and cryptic understands that their reputation is so bad they really can not hurt it at this point.

 

edit- hey didnt cryptic have a manager from hellgate london that sold LTS then closed the servers a month later?

You do realize that the FTP version of CO is not the same as the sub version, right? I don't play CO, but I do know that there is a major difference there.

Originally posted by raistalin69

well there you go, straight from stormshade's keyboard. they know they are ripping people off and have no problem with it.

they are selling lts to a f2p game the same day it goes ftp.

 

read my earlier post, this is about money and cryptic understands that their reputation is so bad they really can not hurt it at this point.

 

edit- hey didnt cryptic have a manager from hellgate london that sold LTS then closed the servers a month later?

Wow...

Let me break this down a little more for you, and anyone else whom you may have managed to confuse.

Please check out our Features Matrix, which outlines the differences between the "Gold" or subscription level, and the "Silver" or free level.

You'll find it very similar to other popular games which have adopted a hybrid "freemium" model. Lifetime Subscribers will essentially be set to a "Gold" level, for the life of the game. This means that if you compare that cost of a lifetime subscription to the cost of an ongoing monthly subscription, we're allowing you the ability to garner potential incredible amounts of savings, later down the line, in exchange for your initial investment.

Thanks,

Stormshade

Champions Online is still going to be a subscription game, even after it goes "free to play".  The "free to play" option is basically an extended free trial.  Buying stuff from the item mall without buying a subscription merely makes it a somewhat more generous free trial, but doesn't remove the build restrictions that mean that you're stuck with a somewhat gimpy character.

What I think is the more interesting line of attack is that a lifetime subscription used to be $200, and is now "on sale" for $240.

Originally posted by Quizzical

Champions Online is still going to be a subscription game, even after it goes "free to play".  The "free to play" option is basically an extended free trial.  Buying stuff from the item mall without buying a subscription merely makes it a somewhat more generous free trial, but doesn't remove the build restrictions that mean that you're stuck with a somewhat gimpy character.

What I think is the more interesting line of attack is that a lifetime subscription used to be $200, and is now "on sale" for $240.

The truth is that the LTS has been on for a few months since the first announcement of CO going to f2p at $300. Apparently it was to match STO LTS price.

Originally posted by Stormshade

Originally posted by raistalin69

well there you go, straight from stormshade's keyboard. they know they are ripping people off and have no problem with it.

they are selling lts to a f2p game the same day it goes ftp.

 

read my earlier post, this is about money and cryptic understands that their reputation is so bad they really can not hurt it at this point.

 

edit- hey didnt cryptic have a manager from hellgate london that sold LTS then closed the servers a month later?

Wow...

Let me break this down a little more for you, and anyone else whom you may have managed to confuse.

Please check out our Features Matrix, which outlines the differences between the "Gold" or subscription level, and the "Silver" or free level.

You'll find it very similar to other popular games which have adopted a hybrid "freemium" model. Lifetime Subscribers will essentially be set to a "Gold" level, for the life of the game. This means that if you compare that cost of a lifetime subscription to the cost of an ongoing monthly subscription, we're allowing you the ability to garner potential incredible amounts of savings, later down the line, in exchange for your initial investment.

Thanks,

Stormshade

 wow what stormshade?

you have put forward that you are offering a deal? you claim that the cost for a lts will pay for itself in around 3 years..... you seriously think their is 3 years worth of content or replayability in either title cryptic offers? can you suggest that with a straight face?

you claim that your offer is similar to other games... ITS NOT!

lotro has had offers something similar in price but offers a AAA mmo that has tons of content and replayability (you mentioned lotro as  similar in an earlier post)  sto and champions are definately NOT AAA mmo's.. if you dont beleive me heres a link with your EP saying so

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=177070&page=2

your "offer" is a complete rip off. if you offered a LTS for an actual AAA mmo that was not about to go f2p then you are actually offering something.

unfortunately -

1- cryptic does not have a AAA mmo

2- one of your 2 titles is about to go f2p (and the other probably is not far behind imo)

Didn't Turbine have an offer like this a while before LOTRO went free to play? I am pretty sure some people were upset because they bought it just a week before the announcement.

You don't have to be a Mon Calamari to release "-it's a trap!" (yeah, wrong SF IP).

What I don't understand is why people are angry with Cryptic for doing this? It's like getting pissed off that a band you never liked in the first place has 'sold out', or some equally inane thing. You(the people upset) keep saying that they are 'ripping people off'. Ripping people off is SOE saying that Frogloks were an unlockable race at launch, though a hidden quest, which didn't actually exist yet. Ripping people off would be selling a LTS, and THEN saying 'HA!! It's going F2P anyway!'.

Cryptic isn't doing that. Everyone knows the score, and if someone thinks it's worth it, they'll spend the money. If they don't, they won't. WTF is the big deal? It's like people getting pissed off because there are Pepsi banners up in the venue where some punk band is playing a concert. No one is FORCING you to buy the damn Pepsi!

You have this thing... it's a sort of 'will'.... that's 'free'.... you can do what you want, buy what you want, and play what you want. Then again, maybe YOU don't, but most of us do.