What I want to know, is if I can pay in c store credits... I haven't played in ages, but my lifetime account monthly stipend probably has enough to pay for at least one!
OK so, I tried to find out how much this costs in Zen from using the in-game ship vendor, and.... it seized my PC bigtime during the upload process from the printer's website - my admittedly ancient PC that does however play STO on max settings.
You don't order in-game, after all. It looks like the button in-game is mostly just a link launcher to the seller's site. So you might not be able to use Zen after all.
I'm gonna go ahead and say I'm slightly disgusted by that pricing you mentioned. I mean.. it's a kids game..
It does highlight what money can buy you in a Cryptic/PWE game - about whatever you want - if, you're willing to shell out stupid amounts of cash. And then you can go in-game, after, and brag about your purchase and tell everyone how the game is staying alive due to people just like yourself.
I'm not against money or blowing large chunks of it or bragging about it afterwards. What I am against is the mentality that emerges in PWE games, where, if you have stupid amounts of cash to blow, you are special. Not only that, you are specialler than everyone else.
See. One thing about mmo's, used to be, they were the great equalizer. You could be man, woman, fat, thin, tall, short, athletic or not, and be whatever color or religion, live anywhere, and whatever else and have whatever amount of cash in your wallet - and you earned love and respect by.... playing. Not buying.
Today some people seem to *think* money buys them respect from other players in a game. Not only that, they think it buys them the right to disrespect people that don't spend a lot of money in a game. When I started playing the first graphical mmo on PC (and Mac...) and then moved on to Everquest.. these exact same people were about the most disgusting players online. Players who BOUGHT their... anything. And ya know what? They normally didn't brag about it either. It was a big dark secret. Due to only lamers had to buy what gamers earned.
I realize it's a.. whole new virtual world, today, and I for sure am not putting down all the people paying the light bill for the games I play! Just some of them.. And the whole mentality. And the fact that devs actually do seem to cater to these people. I don't want them to cater to me, either! or any one person or group.. That's the point. Let them cater... to the game.
This relationship I see forming between 'rich' players and devs and game publishers with Cryptic/PWE has been gnawing at me for awhile. Things like $100's for a ship print in a kids game kinda set me off. Sorry.. But not sorry enough to delete this, apparently.
On the other side of things - I play mostly for free and think it's fantabulous they figured out a way for me to do so because Cryptic/PWE has.. kept me in the game. I have gotten Subscription Quality Support over the years. Their games are top-notch. Even though CO may be .... a little underdeveloped, it's a great game.
I don't have anything against money, I like it, used to have lots more of it. Which should also tell you I'm not against people having money : ) Now that I think of it, probably my best friend, is a pretty rich dude. I just don't think about him that way because he doesn't act that way.
P.P.S.
I hope they have a Fridge Magnet option somewhere in this Ship Printing for the kids and players that ... can afford fridge magnets : )
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edit....:
See.. I went and did the very same thing as what I was saying is bad. I revealed RL info into the game world. The dividing kind.
One of the most compelling things to me when I started roleplaying was to be in a world where everyone had everything in common and could be whatever they imagined they could be. I never liked giving my age, even when the numbers were good ones. I never liked giving any kind of RL info whatsoever ... that could prejudice anyone in any way. At that point: all that's left is fantasy. I could make up and be whoever I wanted and you couldn't see me from any other light.
I don't care who brags about what in STO and I don't know why I even mentioned the devs. I am nonstop saying the things I like about what the devs are doing, and, players feeling over-important is something I should be used to by now - I just have to learn how to cope with the RL version of it.
Probably none of this makes sense and I'll not be bringing it up again. Just had to say my long-winded peace, I guess. My sincere apols!