Tholian Lock Box
By PWE_BranFlakes @ July 17, 2012 at 12:08pm
This galaxy is a dangerous place. There are few regions where this fact is more evident than the outer boundaries of the Klingon Empire. And yet it is amidst the existing turmoil of endless border skirmishes and honor feuds that the mysterious and xenophobic Tholians have decided to make their latest aggressive push to expand their own borders. The fighting in the Nukara system has been intense, and the troops of the Tholian Assembly appear to be practically endless despite the best efforts of both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force.
Even though the outlook of continuing a ground war against an entrenched enemy is bleak, victories have been won by both factions and there is still hope. And on many of these smoldering battlefields, swarms of scavengers, brokers and black market privateers have managed to make the most of this war by obtaining many priceless pieces of Tholian and Mirror Universe technology and offering them up to the galaxy at large in return for their modest finder fees.
Naturally, when such a tempting series of business propositions presented themselves, the Lobi Crystal Consortium had to be the first on the block to try and squeeze a little latinum from the chaos. Through their extensive network of merchandisers, the ingenious Ferengi have quickly and carefully managed to snag nearly every piece of Tholian and Mirror Universe technology filtering in from Nukara and other Tholian skirmishes, and have begun seeding their wares throughout the known galaxy.
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The Tholian Lock Box represents a culmination of our ever-growing understanding of the Lock Box mechanics place in a Free-to-Play MMORPG, as well as an attempt to address much of the feedback that has been received since our first Lock Box went live in the Holiday season of 2011. Along the way, we’ve learned valuable lessons that have driven us to continually re-examine how we can deliver an enjoyable and rewarding experience to our players.
What that really comes down to is fairly simple: The prize must be worth the investment. For the price of 125 Zen, players opening a Lock Box must feel like they received an exciting and worthwhile reward.
One of the biggest ways in which we’ve learned to address this is by speaking to the one prize that nearly all of our players covet the most highly: More ships! The Tholian Lock Box not only offers the sleek and stylish Tholian Orb Weaver as its rare grand prize, but players that are not fortunate enough to receive it still have a chance at receiving an impressive Mirror Universe ship variant. These unique Star Cruiser (Fed), Assault Cruiser (Fed) and Vor’cha Battle Cruiser (KDF) variants will offer different bridge officer slotting and console slotting than their “Prime Universe” counterparts, as well as offering unique visuals not otherwise available for player ships. And on top of that, the odds of receiving these Mirror Universe starships are far higher than any lock box ship odds have ever been before!
We’re also packing two of the most highly sought-after Cross-Faction Consoles into this box, by offering Federation players the chance to get the Subspace Jump console while Klingon Empire players can finally obtain a Point Defense System of their own.
In keeping with the theme of Tholians, and building upon our past tradition of offering very rare, handcrafted Duty Officers in our Lock Boxes, there will be a chance to gain one of six unique Warfare Specialist Duty Officers, all of whom are members of the Tholian species willingly serving aboard Federation and KDF starships in defiance of the Tholian Assembly. Each Warfare Specialist will improve a player’s damage bonus when fighting a specific enemy, either in Space or on the Ground. While only one of these can be slotted at a time, keeping them all in your roster may prove invaluable now that a wide array of antagonists will soon be assaulting Player Starbases on a regular basis.
And how about those Starbases? Ever feel like your contributions to Fleet Projects could be rewarded at a slightly higher rate? The Tholian Lock Box can include an all new Fleet Credit Boost item that will improve your Fleet Credit earnings by 20% until they have depleted their bonus pools. There will be both a 25,000 and a 5,000 pool offered, so save up your Fleet Marks to get the most out of contributing to the advancement of your Starbase.
In the interest of assisting players with defending their Starbases, as well as driving back their enemies in other conflicts across the galaxy, the Tholian Lock Box is coming fully stocked with Very Rare quality (Purple) weaponry that is likely to improve the arsenal of most Captains, their ships and their crew. This new Phased Tetryon Weaponry is available in nearly all variants of both Space and Ground weaponry, and combines the effects of both Phaser and Tetryon energy types into a single lethal package, in addition to their basic bonuses. And again, in the interest of ensuring that our players feel rewarded, Vice Admirals and Lieutenant Generals will have a chance at receiving Mk XII weaponry when opening a Phased Tetryon Weapon pack.
Tholian Lock Boxes will also contain a chance at getting your hands on the Gamma Quadrant Duty Officers that were recently retired from our store. The mini-packs contained in this box will offer the fully range of species, specializations and trait variants that were previously available. A Standard Duty Officer Mini-Pack will also be offered as a low-tier prize in the Tholian Lock Box. Both of these packs contain four (4) Duty Officers: one green-or-better, and three white-or-better.
And lastly, we come to Lobi Crystals. Our intention with the Lobi Crystal Store has always been to offer players a second chance at receiving a worthwhile prize from their Lock Box purchases. Didn’t get the ship you were after? Well, at least you’ve got enough Lobi Crystals from your investment to get yourself a nice item or two from the nearby vendor.
Rewarding players for their investment on the Lobi Store obviously means offering better items on this store. A few examples of this are a Tholian Crystalline Sword that can absorb incoming energy in order to deal extra damage, a new Tholian Silk Scarf (wearable by both factions), a selection of Arachnid Vanity Pets, a flyable Tholian Widow Fighter, and even a beastly Tholian Recluse Carrier that players will have the opportunity to fly into battle.
For the more casual Lobi consumer, we’ve also added several low-cost consumable items for as little as ONE (1) Lobi Crystal apiece. Among these low-cost consumables are a number of Tholian-inspired items, including Radiation Resistance Hypos to reduce the damage taken by Tholian ground weaponry and Acoustic Amplication Circuits that will allow any ranged weapon to deal a small amount of Sonic Damage for a short amount of time. Several other personal and team-based consumables are available, and each can be purchased in bulk for your convenience.
But we didn’t stop at just making great new rewards available for purchase! In order to allow players the opportunity to more easily obtain worthwhile prizes from the Lobi Crystal Store, we’ve doubled the low-tier Lobi Crystal prize. Every Tholian Chance Box will contain a minimum of FOUR Lobi Crystal. When you combine that increase in rewards with the low-price consumables mentioned above, the average purchasing power gained by opening a Tholian Lock Box has significantly increased.
We honestly feel as though this Lock Box’s offerings will be seen as the most rewarding to date, allowing players to view the experience of receiving and opening them with the joy and excitement that the system was always intended to engender.
Read more about the new Tholian Lock Box and Lobi ships in Season 6 Dev Blog #14, and check out our new FAQ here.
mneme0 @ Aug 16th, 2012 4:30PM
Devs != marketers.
kirkepsilon1 @ Jul 30th, 2012 10:21AM
New ships good lockboxes no thanks so I won't waste my zen on this at all am a life timer and maybe we should be asking what are we really getting now? For me am not sure anymore, now its a given that not everyone will like these new ships for whatever reasons but I can see some people getting them for the novelty. As with the lockboxes some people will like them well if you want to live in the fantasy world that these things are good for the game then you do that I will not have any part of it at all. Lockboxes in general distract everyone I think too much from more relevant game issues like the crafting system which is terrible and the low drop rates of tech needed for stf MACO gear. The lack of improvement with avatar customization granted when I first started playing it was good but now it feels stale. I have not played in over 2 weeks simply because I feel so disillusioned with the game I never thought it would happen at least not with this one, I agree that this game is lacking a more star trek feel in lots of different ways.
espiritas @ Jul 27th, 2012 2:53PM
What I would like to see is being able to transfer lobu crystals between my characters. They should be bound to account rather than bound to an individual toon. it does me no good when I have lobi crystals spread between characters and can't combine them into a stack that will let me purchase an item i want. So i have characters with a few crystlas here and there with nothing to use them on- in essence freezing my investment.
dysonsolar @ Jul 27th, 2012 5:48AM
A sword? Really? Granted Klinks have that weird blade, but this is no medieval fantasy, thank god. Get on track with the lore Roddenberry created and nix the stupid sword.
aislingi @ Jul 22nd, 2012 9:26PM
"The Tholian Lock Box represents a culmination of our ever-growing understanding of the Lock Box mechanics place in a Free-to-Play MMORPG, as well as an attempt to address much of the feedback that has been received since our first Lock Box went live in the Holiday season of 2011. Along the way, we’ve learned valuable lessons that have driven us to continually re-examine how we can deliver an enjoyable and rewarding experience to our players. " Lockboxes are THE laziest, sleazy and underhanded way to make a boatload of cash. That is your only motivation. If you really give a damn about making an enjoyable experience, GET RID OF LOCKBOXES.
dysonsolar
True. instead of offering lockboxes that have the same habits as mosquitos, offer us something inventive and imaginative. Like assets to a home we should be able to have on a world of our choice, or more functionality within a starship of our choice. You'd make more money doing this than by some nonstartrek device floating around and getting constantly in our way.
retunred4good @ Jul 22nd, 2012 10:11AM
There's just no pleasing some people. Goes to show how many children we have actually playing this game. I doubt I'll ever be able to get the cool stuff, but I'm not going to whine about it. Bottom line: if you don't like the lockboxes, don't pick em up and open them. If you don't like the lobi store, don't shop it or buy from it. So easy even a child can understand.
aislingi
You will, however, whine like a child about people who dislike something in a game you play. Good job.
dysonsolar
Yo, returnedrgood, do that, return for good to where ever you came from. If we are in the game, we as customers have a right to voice our opinions. The only one really whining is you. Whining is the act of making a nearly pointless comment which does not further an agenda meant to improve a situation. Like you whining about people making comments about what they like and don't like. You contribute nothing positive to the game by your 'whining'.
chris1137 @ Jul 20th, 2012 12:38PM
cryptic, i payed 2.2 million EC for an assault cruiser pack on the exchange, and when i opened it, it turned out to be a star cruiser, please fix this for me, i cant afford to spend another 2.2 million for another pack
thandighandi707
they reversed the names, they said so in one of the dev blogs
cdmdrcrusher @ Jul 20th, 2012 6:15AM
Why are u guys always so negative? (yes gold players can be negative) it brought exciting new ship to me like that mirror universe assault and star cruiser which can be easily bought off the Xchange, This game is also Free to play for silvers (like me) cant act like gold complaning LBs they also need to make money, it's business.
macarthur1961 @ Jul 20th, 2012 1:10AM
OK...I have read most of the complaints...I mean posts. C'mon folks...you are acting like they are doing something wrong. They are a corporation...would you get mad at the Pope for prayin..? Jist open em or toss them loke U do...and move on!!!
aislingi
Stupidest logical fallacy defense yet. Well done fanboy.
bugshu @ Jul 19th, 2012 5:30PM
Pulling the ferengi Lobi store items just shows how foolish it is to save for the big Tholian prizes. Cryptic will shaft people on those also. Will we ever learn. Cryptic hats its customers
bugshu @ Jul 19th, 2012 5:26PM
When somebody thats not a super rich dev and is a hard working blue colllar joe spends $150 buying keys and finally gets up to having 780 Lobis for the carrier they want, Cryptic will pull it from their stores and say too bad you cant have it - enjoy your Lobis for our next lock box garbage fest. Cryptic only likes Wallet players to play their game. Needing $2500 of keys to buy all this new stuff ist stupid. All it does is buy more free Pizza for Devs out of touch with America and working people.
daedalus304
you do know that devs are hard working blue collar joe's right? because if not then you are very narrow minded.
gstamo01 @ Jul 19th, 2012 4:17PM
while the LockBox is clearly not going anywhere, I have to question why they decided NOT to change Lobi Crystals to Account Bound. That is a straight up slap in the face to the player base.
rickymasters @ Jul 19th, 2012 1:42PM
yep it costs 22500 zen to get the new carrier if you only get the min of 4 crystals per box and its not account wide unlock, for that amount u can unlock most of the zen ships in the shipyard.
daedalus304
for 22500 you can unlock nearly everything in the game.....
maltinpolar @ Jul 19th, 2012 1:17PM
One of the wide-spread complains I've seen about these boxes is "I have thousands of these cluttering my inventory!". I can't help but wonder: why don't you just DISCARD them? If you're not willing to buy master keys to open them, then just throw them away. IMHO, keeping them -and let your storage slots clutter by them- is just as stupid as keeping mailbox spam.
bpharma @ Jul 19th, 2012 12:07PM
To be honest I just opened 2 boxes with dilithium bought keys and I got useful things, nothing I really wanted but a step in the right direction. HOWEVER I still do not like that the ships and costumes etc are not account wide unlocks. I'm sorry but I honestly can't see myself unlocking anymore until this happens. Yes it's a step in the right direction, now take another and make them account wide unlocks.
tayuya2 @ Jul 19th, 2012 12:00PM
Yay a Vor'cha...was hoping to at least get the Regent's Negh'Var.
qwertyuioptius @ Jul 19th, 2012 10:53AM
Lockboxes aren't totally useless - if u save them up for a bit, they could fetch for quite a lot on the exchange in the seasons to come.
dublight @ Jul 19th, 2012 10:42AM
Lockboxes reek of Perfect World and that sword looks dangerously pay to win to me.
bugshu
Total Pay to Win Concept - Slap in the face to real players - $2500 to buy all those prizes - tell me its not pay to win now
obiwanstogie
Yes it is but cryptic started that trend long ago when they released the Galaxy X, suddenly the best ship in the game was a cash only item, PWE is only doing what cryptic started with this game after 2 months of live play...
obiwanstogie
And for those of us that are poor it sucks, it took me 3 months to save for an odyssey, I've decided on the escort carrier instead, and I love Tholians, used to play them in Starfleet battles, but I can't afford the keys I'd need just to get their version of a shuttle/fighter :(
sodacan1337 @ Jul 19th, 2012 8:18AM
These boxes are absolutely amazing! I opened one on Tribble and got a 500% sarcasm augmentation kit.
henry4321 @ Jul 19th, 2012 7:48AM
I wonder if they can give lock box keys in return for dilithium,because i get a lot of lock boxes but can't open them
cptgarth @ Jul 18th, 2012 10:27PM
Dont know why your all wining. I havent spend one dime on lock boxes.....just play the game and use the dilithium exchange. Ya they kinda spam up the place , but hey...it aint perfect...its a game...a work in progress.
captainwilkes @ Jul 18th, 2012 10:11PM
Here's a suggestion STO, how about you loose the lock boxes completely and give us a lottery, at least then we wouldn't be too bothered if we won bugger all with the lottery ticket that we bought. Instead we are getting lock boxes we don't want that unlock a item worth having at 5% chance. At least a lottery has higher odds!!
ychild @ Jul 18th, 2012 9:54PM
This is the only way that Perfect World can get their money by offering the lockboxes and we have to buy the master keys.
ljk808 @ Jul 18th, 2012 9:44PM
http://bit.ly/sT7aIz
tcabove @ Jul 18th, 2012 9:18PM
it's offical. you guys SUCK!!!!! just put the ships in the c-store and let us buy them directly. The boxes are spaming the game and are just destroying the feel of it. This is just so retarded i don't even have any words but frustration....
bugshu
Agree more than you know
daedalus304
the original reason they had the lockboxes was because CBS wouldn't let them put these ships on the c-store, the mirror ships just being a little goodie bag.
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