Galaxy Event - Community Rewards

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! Signature Star Trek Timelines Community Manager

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Posted: 24 July 2016 10:14 AM DB Becca - 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! Nowhere is it stated in any promotional materials or within the rules of the game itself that the community rewards phase would be restricted to phase one. Additionally, last Galaxy event, the meter was visible for the duration of the event. Whether that was intended or a bug, it gave the impression that the community goal was active throughout the event. Right now, we sit at roughly 675 million VP. This is in spite of the fact that you promised changes to recipes (a promise that was not delivered on) and removal of the repeat crafting bug (a feature Nod said during the last event was unintended and would be removed). The only change that was made was readjusting the value of VP from completing items. That’s not to mention the poor communication of the values needed for community rewards (many people thought 1 billion was the first threshold) and the fact that your event was not running for more than one hour yesterday. i would like you to know that this is the last straw for me. I will no longer be spending any money on your game. I love Star Trek, and I like the characters that I have, but once the monthly card I have now runs out, I will not support your company until it becomes clear that you are on the side of the customers and the community. I would also encourage you to issue refunds to those people who spend money on the special offers and the event packs, because you have misled them. These items were purchased not only with threshold and ranked rewards in mind, but also with the community rewards. I cannot understate my disappointment with Disruptor Beam this morning. I hope that you re-evaluate your policies, because right now, you are heading down the wrong path. Giving a little this one time could have gone a long way. Signature Disruptor Beam at court, the court of silence. VIP 12 Admiral of the 7th Tactical Wing Member of the VIP 0 Heroes as Darmok Mk 0.5 Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:21 AM I agree, from previous experience with the meter running all weekend, as well as a lack of any evidence to the contrary, we were all led to believe this was the weekend target. Considering this plus the outage yesterday, please give out the premium pull at the conclusion as a sign of good faith. It’s totally fine for you to learn as you go but please don’t let your customera’ goodwill be a casualty of your growing pains. Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:24 AM I understand. I will discuss with the team. Thanks for your input. Signature Star Trek Timelines Community Manager

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Posted: 24 July 2016 10:30 AM Arex Na Eth - 24 July 2016 10:21 AM I agree, from previous experience with the meter running all weekend, as well as a lack of any evidence to the contrary, we were all led to believe this was the weekend target. Considering this plus the outage yesterday, please give out the premium pull at the conclusion as a sign of good faith. It’s totally fine for you to learn as you go but please don’t let your customera’ goodwill be a casualty of your growing pains. I agree about the goodwill gesture. Many people from my fleet actually held back from full participation in phase 1…simply due to exhaustion from the Expedition event that was concluded 2 days earlier. Imagine their surprise when it was announced that the community award was only for phase 1 and not for the full duration of the event. DB please do the right thing for the goodwill of your customers. Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:30 AM 1. federation will win every event, if you set it as an option 2. the less player are active in the events, the more difficult it becomes to reach the community goal. maybe you should check the points from the first and the second event. perhaps the users CAN’T reach your goals anymore Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:30 AM DaiMon Darmok - 24 July 2016 10:14 AM Nowhere is it stated in any promotional materials or within the rules of the game itself that the community rewards phase would be restricted to phase one. Additionally, last Galaxy event, the meter was visible for the duration of the event. Whether that was intended or a bug, it gave the impression that the community goal was active throughout the event. Right now, we sit at roughly 675 million VP. This is in spite of the fact that you promised changes to recipes (a promise that was not delivered on) and removal of the repeat crafting bug (a feature Nod said during the last event was unintended and would be removed). The only change that was made was readjusting the value of VP from completing items. That’s not to mention the poor communication of the values needed for community rewards (many people thought 1 billion was the first threshold) and the fact that your event was not running for more than one hour yesterday. Yep, considering the above points, saying that the event is “working as intended” isn’t really what people wanted to hear. The “voting” in Phase 2 is absolutely useless, since as long as one of the factions is Federation, it’s obvious 5 minutes in they are going to win no matter what. Without the community reward, there is very little incentive left to participate. I agree, there have been some bad decisions from DB in the last few days, and things are not going in a good direction right now. Signature [9RS | Combs] Kilana

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Posted: 24 July 2016 10:32 AM Thanks so much for such a prompt reply Becca. For what it’s worth you are a better employee than I. I am not touching my work email on Sunday morning! Thanks again! Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 10:37 AM DB Becca - 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! Thank you for the update, Becca - it is much appreciated. In all fairness to both the folks at DB and to the members of this community/forum - DB’s communication on this event was very poor. I highly doubt that DB communicated poorly for the purpose of deceiving it’s players. That being said, the biggest piece of feedback that should be gained from this event is better communication from DB to the players. It’s not just the quantity of blog or forum posts. It’s the actual quality of the posts - more thorough and more transparent messages to the team. This is by no means directed at you - you’ve done a great job in this forum and it is much appreciated. However, from what I’ve read from your posts, it sounds like you aren’t always given the full story or all the information that is being requested. You’ve got a new blog writer - he/she needs to give as many specifics for future events, features, packs, etc. as possible. If the players have to assume something or there are many different interpretations of something (like in this current Galaxy event) then the communication from DB was not simple and clear enough. Sometimes brevity is not best. There are a lot of people who have left the game after this event. If things were simply communicated better, I don’t think as many people would have left. In addition to better communication - DB needs to “actively listen” to it’s players. This community has many great ideas for the game. They are also very quick to point out some significant and some not-so significant issues (often in a very passionate way). While tis community is only a snapshot of players, the general consensus is that DB does not seem to be actively listening to the concerns that are being raised. And if the listening is happening, the solutions to these concerns appear as if DB never actually listened to the players. Again, this is not directed at you. Better communication and active listening - these two things will go a very long way improving customer/player relations, especially after this weekend’s event. Thanks for all you do here. Cheers!

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Posted: 24 July 2016 11:18 AM Becca, As a former newspaper copy editor with over 17 years of experience, my job was to make sure that no language we published was incorrect or misleading. And with that experience behind me, I can tell you without a doubt that the text you posted mislead your players. The people complaining are absolutely correct. When writing rules, you CANNOT leave major elements to simply be assumed. And that’s the problem with the community award. It is never mentioned that this part ends after stage 1. And based on the time it took you to respond, I’m going to make my own assumption that you didn’t even know this and had to go get clarification. If that is the case with someone in your position, how can we be expected to know the rules? This is a huge problem for one big reason… Money. I, like many other players, spent money on this event based on the rules that were posted. Every one of your events is meant to bring in revenue, so you have to make sure that your players understand what they are buying into. Vague text is not acceptable when people are making buying decisions based on it. Just to clarity your post says everything worked as intended. Does that mean DB considers this issue closed? Signature Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 11:18 AM Thank you Becca for the response even though it is stunning to me. DB is sure crystal clear with info regarding new money-generating packs. But this situation is just not right. You put this very exciting reward out there to an extremely loyal customer base and then basically just rip it away. I, like many others, was holding back chronitrons to hit dailies, etc. The info seems vague on purpose at times. These fiascos actually seem like the norm to me. Personally I was waiting for this answer before spending $24.99 on the event pack. Not only will I not do that, I won’t spend another dime until the customer base is considered more. I’ve already spent enough to be vip 12 and have many more purchases in me. Thank you Becca. You are an amazing employee. I just can’t say the same about the way I feel toward your company as a loyal paying customer. Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 11:23 AM The decision-makers behind this game are astonishing sometimes. I truly feel for the CSRs and Becca here who are constantly stuck in the middle. I can picture the wince when the “working as intended” memo hit the inboxes. Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 11:25 AM DaiMon Darmok - 24 July 2016 10:14 AM DB Becca - 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! Nowhere is it stated in any promotional materials or within the rules of the game itself that the community rewards phase would be restricted to phase one. Additionally, last Galaxy event, the meter was visible for the duration of the event. Whether that was intended or a bug, it gave the impression that the community goal was active throughout the event. Right now, we sit at roughly 675 million VP. This is in spite of the fact that you promised changes to recipes (a promise that was not delivered on) and removal of the repeat crafting bug (a feature Nod said during the last event was unintended and would be removed). The only change that was made was readjusting the value of VP from completing items. That’s not to mention the poor communication of the values needed for community rewards (many people thought 1 billion was the first threshold) and the fact that your event was not running for more than one hour yesterday. i would like you to know that this is the last straw for me. I will no longer be spending any money on your game. I love Star Trek, and I like the characters that I have, but once the monthly card I have now runs out, I will not support your company until it becomes clear that you are on the side of the customers and the community. I would also encourage you to issue refunds to those people who spend money on the special offers and the event packs, because you have misled them. These items were purchased not only with threshold and ranked rewards in mind, but also with the community rewards. I cannot understate my disappointment with Disruptor Beam this morning. I hope that you re-evaluate your policies, because right now, you are heading down the wrong path. Giving a little this one time could have gone a long way. I have to second these sentiments. The way that the community is feeling right now is ripped off, and the statement of DB seems to be ‘We didn’t clarify, so our bad… but still, no.’ Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 11:28 AM DB Becca - 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! The First Phase and The Second Phase both require building and the accumulation of points. Where did it say the rewards were stepped? I was under the impression when I started playing this event that all the rewards were based on the 1 goal of the community reaching 1 Billion points. To say it worked as intended when in the first Galaxy event the counter continued into phase 2 and total points for the two phases barely passed 1 Billion indicates that the 10x Premium pull was never an achievable target and DB knew so. I think it’s rather the case that your marketing and coding departments weren’t clear about the objectives and requirements of the event and now you’re spinning it to not honour the 10x Premium pull. Please treat us with more dignity. Profile

Posted: 24 July 2016 11:30 AM DaiMon Darmok - 24 July 2016 10:14 AM DB Becca - 24 July 2016 10:00 AM Hey all, I have cleared up the confusion. This is working the same way the first Galaxy Event worked in terms of how Community rewards work - it’s just that it wasn’t readily apparent the first time we ran a Galaxy Event that this is how it operated, since we only had one community reward; we achieved it in minutes. This time, there were THREE attainable community rewards. The Community achieved the first two, so the two crew are awarded. The community did not reach the final threshhold this time to achieve the 10-pack pull. In the second phase, the community isn’t working together - they are supporting three different factions to change the final outcome. This is a “voting” phase for a new Crew for the game. As with all of these events - even from the first event - we’ll evaluate what worked and what didn’t. But just to clarify, the event is working as intended; the first phase is a community phase working towards a common goal and common rewards, and the second phase is a faction phase working towards the desired resolution of the storyline with a new crew introduced. Hope this helps clear up the confusion! Nowhere is it stated in any promotional materials or within the rules of the game itself that the community rewards phase would be restricted to phase one. Additionally, last Galaxy event, the meter was visible for the duration of the event. Whether that was intended or a bug, it gave the impression that the community goal was active throughout the event. Right now, we sit at roughly 675 million VP. This is in spite of the fact that you promised changes to recipes (a promise that was not delivered on) and removal of the repeat crafting bug (a feature Nod said during the last event was unintended and would be removed). The only change that was made was readjusting the value of VP from completing items. That’s not to mention the poor communication of the values needed for community rewards (many people thought 1 billion was the first threshold) and the fact that your event was not running for more than one hour yesterday. i would like you to know that this is the last straw for me. I will no longer be spending any money on your game. I love Star Trek, and I like the characters that I have, but once the monthly card I have now runs out, I will not support your company until it becomes clear that you are on the side of the customers and the community. I would also encourage you to issue refunds to those people who spend money on the special offers and the event packs, because you have misled them. These items were purchased not only with threshold and ranked rewards in mind, but also with the community rewards. I cannot understate my disappointment with Disruptor Beam this morning. I hope that you re-evaluate your policies, because right now, you are heading down the wrong path. Giving a little this one time could have gone a long way. I also agree with this. Not to mention that the target was going to be very difficult to get with the drop rate on items blatantly lowered to make it extremely difficult, which DB never told anyone about, if I had known that I wouldn’t have spent the money I did. Not to mention that people who aren’t in the event, are finding it also hard to get crafting items to level their crew, because drop rates. Profile