Lockbox Revamp Incoming? + Issues I hope to see resolved.

[@CasualSAB]

Again, huge thanks to SFC for the lead! stowiki.net/wiki/Main_Page Source: www.annapolito.com/star-trek-online Infinity LB Issues: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3Wzh4GHj7KEoNU LB Drop Rates: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fn3Xfmtnl7uMnpo

[@Rob-el8ti]

wish they would add some to the phonix box

[@outlawedTV88]

I am just gonna guess from your active ship number at 7:37. If I guess Spencer, the correct number, you can reward me later. Is your total number of active ships in display in this video.....its hard to tell but I've consulted the prophets and they say it might be 49 ? Please indulge me, how many ships u got there? Thanks

[@outlawedTV88]

@@Rob-el8tiYeah, that wud be also great Dil sink with new ships and items added. But I guess its better for Cryptic to just put em in the Mudd's and price tag it at 8k Zen, right?!

[@Rob-el8ti]

@@outlawedTV88 no doubt they will try

[@Real_Firebird1170]

I’d love a token that makes single unlock ships account wide. It’d definitely increase my interest in “catching them all.” As it stands, the only time I use keys is when I get them bound to me. Been playing since beta and the first time I got a T6 choice pack was during this year’s anniversary giveaway. And I still haven’t opened it because I don’t want to commit to a single use ship and immediately regret it. The lockbox ships I do have I bought with EC in the years before or at the beginning of the pandemic before EC prices on all the ships went absolutely crazy and the available supply crashed. That’s also meant I’ve bought even less key packs over the last 4 years. I don’t need huge sums of EC to buy overpriced ships that aren’t available for alts I don’t play on game content that’s not being created fast enough to be worth seriously investing in an alt for.

[@MChauNsd]

except people will complain about that...the ship itself is expensive for a single character... the token to enable account wide unlock would be extremely expensive as well

[@Rob_253]

I believe SWTOR does that with the land mounts, if you get one to drop you can pay to have it account bound same goes for vanity armor

[@TotallyNotCastiana]

their accountwide unlock system is by far one of the best in the MTX industry

[@SRS-GAMES]

In ESO their Radient Apex mounts like almost everything else in the game are account wide on purchase, so you can use the same mount on any character, even a brand new toon. In addition, they offer zero advantage, nothing in the store on ESO offers anything to improve stats, it's all just cosmetic. Finally, you can earn 2 of them a year just by completing three simple endeavours a day and one simple weekly one. That's better than the STO year long campaign, takes far less time to do and you get twice as much as well as it being account bound. As a result there is a lot of engagement although of course there are still folks moaning about it, which makes me chuckle, they should try STO to see what a shit system really looks like.

[@TotallyNotCastiana]

@@SRS-GAMES yeah we get shafted quite a bit in sto. but what can i say ive been playing 12 years i cant quit now :O

[@jyralnadreth4442]

It is true for most Cartel Items in SWTOR lol It is a good way of doing it

[@Kreyg]

I really hope DECA breathes some new life into this game. I stopped playing about 3-4 years ago because I felt like it was just getting ridiculous. Grind after grind, event after event. I would rather spend that time now being productive, and I do. I log in here and there, but, I dont enjoy the game anymore. I hope they change the monetization and make things more accessible. The people at Cryptic may have loved Star Trek, but their horrible, and aggressive monetization schemes were the antithesis of what Star Trek was about.

[@archmagosreductorsethyrh7558]

Yeah. These problems are basically the reasons I do not bother a lot with opening them. It does not make much sense. Especially if you want a ship, but just get if lucky useful stuff, if unlucky only trash, and never a ship or anything great.

[@Admiralkers]

this^^ they simply need to remove them..... people trying to sell them isnt good for the sto economy either, which makes no sense selling them at a overprice

[@kumori0ookami]

I like the idea of paying to make ships account wide, extend that to the lobi ships too.

[@Tormented22]

As long as you're okay with the price of lockbox ships dropping. I.E. if you're a buyer and not a seller. But making them accountwide reclaims is going to utterly tank the market. I''m a buyer so I'll be very happy when I'm picking up a lockbox ship for 50 mil.

[@kumori0ookami]

@@Tormented22 It could tank the market or maybe not. imo it would make the ships more valuable but they already max out the market cap so...

[@Tormented22]

@@kumori0ookami More valuable? Unless they also reduced the drop rate, I think the chances of that are zero because there would be more people selling their spares, whereas right now _at least some people_ make the following sort of decision: "Oh wow, I won two ships! I can put one on my sci captain too." Erase that and the market becomes flooded and the price goes down. And people are idiots. You've seen it. They don't undercut by 100k, they undercut by five, ten, twenty mil! 🙄

[@Mercstar]

Sadly I don't see many issues being resolved until Cryptic has been removed from the situation. Godspeed Deca.

[@Tormented22]

You understand that DECA are a company whose expertise is keeping alive dead games, right? Or dying games. If you think it was bad under Cryptic (who I have little love for) you're in for a treat. DECA will do the absolute minimum in order to ensure there's a game people can pay cash into. And this woman mentioned at the end of the video with a vision for improving lockboxes -- she works for Cryptic, in America, and won't be there at all once the Germans take over.

[@averyvaliant]

@@Tormented22 I agree, DECA is basically hospice for STO. Keep it alive, but don't do anything else.

[@cmedeir]

All very valid points. I’ve been playing for over 10 years and have (in the past) spent thousands of dollars over the years playing the game, but have been so frustrated by the mechanics (some of which you mention here) that I haven’t logged in for about 6 months. I hope that the new operas that be will listen to these suggestions. You’re one of the most knowledgeable players in this game. They would be ignorant to ignore you.

[@kingbruhakillermonkey]

Long time player, subscribed to your channel recently, STO can survive but so much needs to happen, hope your message gets thru to the "powers that be"

[@MattPetruzzelli]

The T5 ship box needs to go. Seeing "ship box" and then realizing it's just T5 is like opening the big present on Christmas and finding it's full of poo.

[@outlawedTV88]

Lol exactly - don't remind me :)

[@Scrapheap979]

If they are going to keep T5 at least bring all the old T5s back to it

[@peterhans3791]

Instead of getting rid of the T5 box, just give all the T5s in the boxes free T5-U upgrades. Can't even upgrade mirror ships, wtf? Now they are at least useful ships, even if they aren't optimal (lacking specialization seating and stated consoles)

[@necronix9947]

It needs the level restriction removed so that you can use T5s and not have to wait until you have leveled up, Its a bit silly being able to fly T6 right at the start, And not most T5s. And a lot of new F2P players rely on the T5s that they pick up as rewards on their first toons to get going and will wait to buy T6 until they have the ability to farm zen with multiple toons, I used nothing but t5s for years and still use some of them and I have nearly every ship in the game and most of that was done with cheap T5s from the exchange used for Admiralty cards for farming Dil!

[@radeadcool]

I want the t5 ships back 😫

[@PirateScumGaming]

Thank you for this. My hope with the updated UI is that for those older weaoon packs that don't give you a choice of iteam and just gives you a random weapon will now give you that choice.

[@randeindiana1934]

I play on console and have since it first came to Xbox. I was put off on lockboxes when I saw the odds. My son is now grown so I don’t feel bad putting money in the game and I’ve put a lot on the past 2 years. In that time I purchased several hundred dollars worth of boxes from Zen as well selling IsoMags. I’ve won 6 Infinity ships 1 promo. I only won 2 Borg Doffs. If I were to win another I’d sell to get another ship because they go for so much. With that being said, that’s a major point that supports what you’ve been saying. I’ve slowed down using actual money to buy boxes as the cost just doesn’t make sense anymore now I’m at the point I want to be. I’d love to have DPRM on all characters to play Elite content more but the cost of doing it on multiple characters just doesn’t make sense. I completely agree that if there were an option to make these ships account unlocks then I’d pay extra for that as well. Your other points just make sense and it’s kinda baffling why these aren’t done in game, especially when another game made by them are doing these things. I’m willing to invest money in this game but with them not having these issues with the lockboxes, and not to mention the bugs, it makes me more and more hesitant to do so in the future. Great videos by the way, thanks for what you do!

[@legostarwarsfan159]

I fully agree with the thought that there should be a method to unlock things account wide. I always think back on the system that swtor has (star wars the old republic). They used to have a very similar lockbox system as STO but switched over (around the time that the whole controversy regarding lootboxes blew up) to having all items available for sale individually but leaving the lockbox there that drops random things from the overall store with it being more an option to get certain things for a discount, also an item they hand out as free rewards for certain tiers in their newer battlepass system. However any paid for item, like armor sets, weapons, companions etc when used activated by a character gets unlocked for that character in the collections menu. Which allows that character to get infinite copies of that item (say to give those cosmetics to companions etc or allow characters to free up that inventory space those items would otherwise take). There's also in that menu an option to then buy the 'legacy unlock' which allows any character you have on your account to then be able to redeem the infinite copies from the collections menu for use. Which is a very popular system since it allows people to have expensive items on their alts because they like the look of them. Indeed Mudds seems to have been an attempt to fill that niche but seeing how expensive the bundles are and how they fill them with stuff not everyone would want, it's not a good alternative. I also wonder how many more people would actually try to get these premium ships if there was an option to unlock them account wide that currently don't engage with it. Especially for ships that have equipment on them that is meta for builds, like the plasma equipment from the Gorn ship, universal designs from the Crossfield refit, dprm etc etc.

[@KaylieRayne]

Theres too much crap in there, and too much out dated crap.. I have over 40 T5 Ship boxes.. Why are these even a thing still.. If they want to keep them in the box, fine give us a way to turn in say 10 for a t6 or something.. Im done opening the infinity boxes cause of that. I have a better chance of winning a ship from the other packs as there is less crap in them.

[@dennisvanhelden9253]

Yes, let them T5 ship boxes be turned into dilithium? Not sure how much per box, though!

[@glossymouse7712]

Completely useless since they made all the good T5 ships unobtainium. We give the Hirogen escorts to new players in our fleet and then they use them for the few days until we get them a T6.

[@gusty9053]

The same can be said even with the regular T6 ships. Every time they release a new ship or ship bundle some more power creep takes place, one more ship becomes outdated and is just added to the crap pile that you have to wade through. What is the point of having all those ships if 50 % are useless, 50 % of them are ugly as sin and most people usually use maybe 10 platforms overall.

[@Moose00019]

Admiralty cards? Lol jk

[@MrSASIronclad]

Its what i use mine for ​@Moose00019

[@ileria3]

Great suggestions Casual, you hit the nail right on the head. This is exactly how I play and I absolutely will not spend any more money on Alt Chars. Absolutely refuse. I got my Romulan/Alien and I am content with that Char as long as they keep trying to gouge us for more money on alts. I also will not spend money on Keys to open boxes. I sell keys and buy what I want when I want it. Its 100 time more feasible then playing the odds. I really hope DECA sees this video and takes it under suggestion.

[@Kayvel54]

In this one area I think SWTOR got it right. When you get stuff from their CC store it's character locked. But I can go onto another character and if I want to use that item on another character I have to pay an account unlock fee using the same currency. It's roughly half the price of the item you purchased or unlocked. This also includes items that is from the store that you buy off the exchange. So for me I don't open LBs often, but I can buy a ship that is a LB ship and then account unlock it by spending more zen. So if a ship is roughly 3000z on average then spending another 500z to account unlock a LB ship they'd make more money and players are happier about the LB ships.

[@XalenMaru]

Agree with everything you said. It's gotten rarer for me to open Infinity boxes (or any boxes frankly) over the last few years. When lock boxes were first introduced, you could reliably expect to get a ship prize pack with around $100 or so spent. Those days are long gone. I will sadly admit to having purchased a ship or two off the black market as it's simply a far more reliable way to guarantee getting something for the dollars spent.

[@richardajoy79]

Once we've got a ship, it should be account unlocked from the get go; if they bring out an option to pay X-amount for account-wide, then thats just balls... people have already paid their money, why should we pay more? Certain countries, even here in the UK do have certain rules regarding lootboxes but because they're not enforced to the extend they should be, companies get away with a lot, each lootbox is supposed to show monetary cost, Blizzard was fined for not doing so. Hopefully legislation will catch up, but I very much doubt it.

[@adambrown6669]

The pity system could be nice if it actually is generous. And account unlocks for ANY lockbox unlock/promo unlock/event campaign selection should be a given. Besides that lockboxes should have a mechanic that allows you to equip the box and gather data by simply playing the game, this would work via expertise and level up the lockbox, each level would increase the odds of getting the ship, level 0 would be default, level 10 would be a 30% chance. Additionally a booster system with dilithium could be added to eventually give a 50% chance of the ship. Additionally the grand prize should be the ship and a choice of either 8 weapon packs, some officers or a universal console(pack dependant)

[@MattPetruzzelli]

100% agree about account unlocking. When I played SWTOR I would immediately account unlock most of the things I bought on their market. Even if I didn't do it immediately, I'd probably do it eventually because I made a lot of alts.

[@thatHARVguy]

I wait for the 50% Collection Unlocking Fee discount sales during May 4th week and Anniversary/Life Day.

[@MLAGGIONE]

2:12 I think they should group infinity ships by year they were released first and then by the name when you select your year... much easier choice

[@Logan800]

they need to make lock boxes stop dropping in game just let people get it from the cash shop like they do now that's very redundant and annoying when loot boxes drop or you can just get it from the shop

[@tom611]

There are *still* a small number of people that attempt to open the boxes they get in drops, so that'd take money away. Also, it's good advertisement for each new Lockbox, as people may have missed that a new garbage box is out, but will notice when they sweep up Salvage.

[@maxfli11]

I came back to the game a year ago and discovered liberated doffs. Bought a pack from exchange, and opened 24 of 47. Got my Dhailkhina that way

[@PappaLezlie]

I personally not open lockboxes at all, because of the unknown and seemingly very low odds, but as an exchange user totally love the idea of sellable ship packs. I have 20 characters, all theme built, and many times not the meta ship I'd go after, but those there are cannot be bought. Let's hope the best

[@rifleman2c997]

Yes to an option to make account wide, like SWTOR. And another thing, choice pack for kits as that just takes up so much junk.

[@ForeverDegenerate]

@CasualSAB You make some great points here, the vast majority of which is why I tend not to interact with Lockboxes. But let's cut through the wish list and fluff and get real. There are bigger systemic and design issues regarding the Lockboxes that need to be addressed before any of the balancing can begin. Allow me to list them in order of importance from what I feel is the most important issues that need to be addressed to least important. For full transparency, I've been around since Beta. So I'm an "Ancient One" and I've seen it all, lol. 1) Item Bloat. There's MASSIVE item bloat in the Infinity Lockbox. This NEEDS to be addressed before any kind of balance can even be considered. There are WAY too many items in the Lockbox. How do they address this issue? Well they need to address the germane issue that is causing this: Item Obsolescence. There are WAY too many items in the Infinity Lockbox that are obsolete or were never relevant to begin with. So how does one solve this over-arching issue? Well... 1a) Create An Item Limit Cap AND STICK TO IT. They NEED to do this. Decide on a reasonable item limit for the amount of items placed into the Infinity Lockbox, then be ruthless enough to remove items from the Lockbox when new items need to be added once they hit that limit. This is the most important and necessary step to controlling Item Bloat and keeping the Infinity Lockbox reasonable and worth it. If they can't (or won't) commit to this, then nothing I suggest will help. At that point, they need to just do away with Lockboxes completely and put EVERYTHING in the Z-Store (and, by extension, make everything Account Unlock). Because with outright refusal to control Item Bloat, they're just consistently reducing the value of the Infinity Lockbox. Seriously, at this point, the Infinity Lockbox is kinda worthless due to Character Binding and Item Bloat. 1b) Cut Through The BS. What I mean by this is Cryptic needs to stop thinking that everything deserves to be classified as "Premium." That's just BS. They need remove everything from the Infinity Lockbox that doesn't deserve to be "Premium" and move them somewhere else. The big category that just needs to be wholesale removed from the Infinity Lockbox (and Lockboxes in general, if you ask me) are T5 Ships. Like why? Why are they they there? Who thinks T5 ships are really worth a damn in the Era of T6-XX? But yeah there are more than just the T5 ships that are "obsolete" and shouldn't be considered "Premium" and Cryptic/DECA needs to just go through the Infinity Lockbox inventory and ruthlessly "cut through the BS." Where do I think the items should go? Well the obvious choice is the Z-Store. Not ideal, but far better than Lockboxes. The second choice would be Lobi Store, but I don't like that either as you will start running into the same issues there as we have in the Lockboxes (item bloat and obsolescence since Lobi is also a "Premium" currency and, besides, I think they need to "Cut Through The BS" with the Lobi Store too). No, my ideal shift would be to take all T5 "Premium" Ship and other Lockbox items like Traits and stuff and put them in the Dil Store. I think they'd be perfect for bolstering and driving the Dil Market. It those things more accessible while still driving the game's economy. 1c) Care Enough To Properly Balance. Yes I know this is massive Hopium and Copium at this point because we all know that they don't care enough to properly balance anything. Hell, we constantly question whether they play their own game and understand the game well enough to understand the Meta and really understand the synergies behind what they design. But I think a lot of these problems could be corrected if they bothered to look at everything that would remain in the Infinity Lockbox to rebalance and even rework those items to, quite frankly, not suck. Make them desirable and deserving of the classification of "Premium." 2) Make All Items Account Unlocked/Bound. The fact that all Lockbox Items are Character Bound is just stupid and was never a good idea. While I understood it when Lockboxes were added to the game and, back then, it wasn't that big an issue because the game was in its relative infancy so we really didn't know better, there wasn't really a "Meta" like there is now, and there weren't so many items that it was an issue. But now... yeah there's really no need to Character Bind every item, especially the Ships. This is really harming Lockboxes because why should we, the players, even care about Lockboxes if I have to choose which character I want said item on when I open it? They just need to make everything in the Lockbox Account Bound and be done with it. And I'm talking for ALL Lockboxes, not just Infinity. But, they NEED to do this, at least, for Infinity. As a tangent, I also believe they need to do this for the Lobi Store as well, but that's another discussion for another day. 3) Go Full Gacha With Lockboxes. And what I mean by this is, Lockboxes need, and in my opinion should have always had, a Pity System. The fact that there is no Pity System is utterly ridiculous. 3a) Literally Go Full Gacha With Lockboxes. So... IF, even with item limit caps and the other issues fixed, there are just too many items due to the sheer amount of different item types in the game for a single Lockbox to be fair, then I propose that Cryptic/DECA, as I titled this, go Full Gacha on this and use the Banner System from Gacha Games. But instead of Banners, create multiple different Infinity Lockboxes. For example, they could rename the current Infinity Lockbox to Infinity Ship Lockbox. Then add, say, Infinity Trait Lockbox, Infinity Weapons Lockbox, Infinity Gear Lockbox, etc. If there are just too many Item Categories to reasonably fit them all into a single Lockbox, just make Lockboxes for each Category.

[@axelhopfinger533]

STO isnt Cryptic anymore, it's DECA games now which is a German company. Meaning it operates under EU law which has gambling in games for real money banned. So some serious change is bound to come to STO regarding lockboxes and ingame economy under DECA.

[@Mac_1701]

Nice vid, always good to see some potential positive changes coming to the game. I only open lockboxes if I have keys from a bundle that are account bound. The odds of winning anything decent are terrible. Then there is the character bind issue as well, especially for ships. Everything should be account unlock for life sub players, and have the ability to unlock for account via the C store or other means. Certainly being able to chose the packs when they drop, not having them clog up the inventory etc. is a very positive change. I understand the want for the gambling boxed from the company perspective, it's money at the end of the day. If they improved other areas of the game as well, especially the life sub benefits, this would only further increase their revenues. I want the game to be profitable so it stays around for a long time to come.

[@outlawedTV88]

Oh it will stay around, and its not just about the game itself, but the Star Trek franchise in general = Paramount

[@SilverBazooka10]

I'm at 300+ infinity boxes open and no ship. I really hope that if they implement this change that I get to keep that progress, and my next one is guaranteed.

[@realplonk]

i don't believe that unless you're opening them 1 at a time and not all at the same time. If you want to win a lockbox ship you need to open 200 boxes at the same time, meaning one right after the other, this is how you increase the pity system to work in your favor

[@tupe444]

having the lockbox ui be an inventory tab does give me some concerns, but i'm guessing for most players it's gonna be ignored just like the R&D tab. Personally, I think a big problem is that the game considers a Constitution and random one time background ship to be of equal value as a grand prize.

[@tom611]

Frequently requested Pet Tab: Nah. Requested extra Bank Tab: Nah Lockbox tab that no one asked for: HELL YA! Kinda shows STO's priorities. Even stuff that indirectly makes money and is basically only a pain point for people that engage with the lockbox systems get passed on, but maybe a new lockbox interface will boost sales! Players with too many pets likely got a bulk of them from Lockboxes, and people needing more bank space than currently allowed usually have lockbox and heavily upgraded stuff. Look at how much stuff has to handled by Spencer's Overflow bag when opening boxes...

[@DarthShebs]

Well, I open new ships (lock box/events/phoenix whatever)on my main character for the most part and they have maxed out the number of ship slots/dry dock slots and the slots I could get from the Zen Store, a year or two ago, despite the fact that I don't even go after all the premium ships. The solution of course is to get rid of ships I don't fly, but that's just a stopgap., eventually I'll have to delete ships I like or paid for. It would be nice if the limit was adjusted to how many ships are in the game even if it's just the dry dock slots. I also have a bunch of Trier 5 ship boxes wasting space in my inventory, would be nice to be able to convert several into a Tier 6 or break them down into other stuff for instance.

[@coryking1791]

I think they should consider making it so once you claim a lockbox/promo ship it is available for reclaim from Mudd's Market. I would be more likely to spend money on keys if I knew the ship was available to reclaim

[@Kinvarus1]

I think they should just remove the T5 ships from the boxes entirely, most people probably don't open them until they've hit T6 anyway or at least give you an option to trade in x number of them for a t6 box instead. Also I agree with you that a way to pay some Zen or EC in game to make a ship an account wide unlock would be awesome. Or just make them account wide from the get go, and with Lockboxes apparently getting their own tab in the window, that would be the pefect place to have a lockbox ship section where you could purchase and reclaim them. As for lockboxes, I open the occasional one every now and then, but I don't really bother with the infinity one anymore because there's too much old stuff in there and for a lot of the reasons you already mentioned and I don't bother with trying to get a ship based on how many you'd need to open with a not-as-good-as-Neverwinter pitty system. It's at a point where I'd rather save the money on lockbox keys and instead wait and see if the ship I want eventually ends up in a Mudd's Market bundle and spend the cash then to not only get the ship finally but also know it will be an account wide unlock. I had the Wells sci ship from a lockbox, but wanted it on another character, I would have gladly paid some Zen to have it an account wide but they don't do that, so when it appeared in Mudd's Market, I immediately brought it cos I wanted it as an account wide ship. Now while the argument could be made that "Well if they made all ships an account wide unlock or let you purchase it, then there would be no need for the Mudd's Market. Not entirely true, there's always other things they can put in there instead. Also, more importantly there's no guarentee that the ship that you want will end up in there. Generally nowadays I open lockboxes more for if I'm a little low on Lobi and need to top up to get something if I'm a little short. then I'll open a couple, otherwise I prefer selling the keys on the Exchange for the EC.

[@marcanthony5740]

Totally agree with you on your points. I have a main toon who opens LB and gets the ships, NO WAY am I going to spend $250+ again on each alt to get those ships again, but I would pay $30 to get the ship Acc unlocked, and I’d probably open more. However they REALLY need to remove all the junk, I don’t want T5 ships, or rubbish like basic DOFF packs. The UI update is great, but they absolutely need to get those odds out there and do what they did with neverwinter as a minimum. And honestly would it be so horrific for them if they let you choose what actual weapon you got from a weapons like (hello Omni beams I’m talking about you 😂)

[@thesovereign4218]

My biggest pet peeve is the lack of choice pack for doffs, kits, bonus pools, etc. It's too much unused fluff I never end up needing or using that isn't worth selling. Also T5 boxes need to go.

[@wChris_]

I think an interesting system for character bound ships, would be to trade them over to other characters. A system like account dry dock spaces, which you can use to transfer those ships over.

[@axelhopfinger533]

Maybe they'll remove the lockboxes altogether. DECA is a German company and gambling mechanics in videogames (for real money) are banned under EU law. So logic would dictate, that in order to make STO compatible with EU regulations, lockboxes either need to be removed completely or the random chance mechanics need to be removed from them. So one way or another, we'll likely see a major revamp of the ingame economy.

[@jeffhogan3433]

Part of the issue I have with the boxes is what you said...there is so much "junk" in them and how they are organized makes it too tedious to bother trying for specific items. But with the lack of these items on the marketplace its equally annoying.

[@Nikephorus]

I completely agree with you about being able to put choice packs on the exchange. My friends and I that play sto have discussed this many times.

[@shauntempley9757]

The lockbox would work, if the choice packs were guaranteed on opening the box, one choice coupon for each of the prize sections. That has to include the T6 and T5 ships being a guarantee for opening on top of this. Those have to come out with each box opened. As it is, I only open lockboxes to build up my lobi, so that when the campaign is done, I get a potential two ships from that prize. With the campaign change, my quest to get the Verne from the T6 prize, and the Temporal Destroyer, and Paradox, both from lobi would get me the entire temporal equipment set from this year's changes. Which for me is awesome.

[@evilwarcow]

The point where you mentioned that it would be great if the lockbox ships could be made account wide, that is speaking my language. And I would love to go further with the Lobi ships.

[@DanaDark]

A revamped infinity lockbox would be absolutely amazing, game-changing even.

[@DanaDark]

As for your final question on lockboxes: the ONLY reason to open them is to get lobi. Nothing else. Ever. For any reason. Why spend upwards of $500 when you can sell the keys and at worst spend $200 less to get EC to buy whatever you want. 85% of what you win in lockboxes is utter garbage that should be removed from the entire game outright. If everything was a choice pack then it'd be worth it to open them, this includes specifying what weapon type instead of constantly opening hoping to get a beam instead of turret etc.

[@paul_8472]

As to your last question about us opening or not opening lockboxes these days. I may open 15 to 20 when a new box drops if I'm interested in the training manuals or weapons. I have come to the realization that I will not see a t6 ship from a box after getting a lockbox ship that was then named the "U.S.S. 483 MASTER KEYS". Beyond that, I don't open boxes anymore. I did get luck with the Connie 3, but I was opening the pack for the duty officers to fill rosters on my 30 toons that were severely lacking for doff assignments and active space and ground rosters. At this point t6 lockbox ship are more of an "oh I got 1, huh the game must be broken type of feeling." With the exception of 3 or for none event or c-store ship all are Mudd bundle or event campaign ships and that because those are "GARENTEED".

[@hughejass9461]

Neat, first. Anyways, I don't really deal with the lottery boxes so any information is always appreciated. Keep up the great work.

[@StArShIpEnTeRpRiSe]

Funny, but the solution for the account wide unlock for a ship is already exist in the game. There is one Dominion ship, (which I get long ago, can't remember how) which has a 6th level of ship mastery, but it's not give anything, just made that ship account wide unlock. That's it, that's all they should do, add it to the existing ships. And I bet many of you would spend far more money for far more ships, if you could unlock all of those this way.

[@matthewkeeling886]

Possible new interface looks pretty good, better than most websites these days. Would be even better with the improved pity system. As an interim I would hope they go through the Infinity box's older stuff and pull the items that just are not seeing much use with those items then being split between the Lobi Store and the Phoenix Store. As an FTP player I'm probably never going to open boxes myself but having the items actually consistently available would encourage people like me to buy from the Exchange more and to actually sink Dilithium into the Phoenix Store when there isn't an event running.

[@dannobundy7423]

At least make all the friggin boxes bound to account so we can store them in the account bank. Over the years and lots of toons, I have to check 10+ characters loooking for possible usefull box stuff like space traits when creating a new toon...

[@Primal-Rage]

the very issues you mentioned is precisely WHY I don't buy keys.. I opened 50ish boxes a few years ago.. got a bunch of junk, and never bought keys again.. I simply don't see a point to paying money to get junk.

[@thisonecanplay]

For me, the number one reason why I don't open lock boxes is that the odds of getting anything good are so bad. If the box had lots of things that I wouldn't mind having (doesn't all have to be meta stuff) I would be okay with that. As it sits now, it's just not worth it to be. If I want something, I'll patiently wait until it shows up in the c-store.

[@quantumjet253]

I'm curious about this concept of being able to choose a specific item from a lockbox prior to the actual gambling (assuming I understood the concept correctly). Am I correct in saying the system would play out like this; the player decides they want Bridge Officer traits... then roll, and nothing will be paid out until the lucky number comes in (so to speak) and the player wins the whole selection of BO traits, and from there choose which one they specifically want. So in other words, depending on what you choose from the whole selection the odds change. If you picked a ship, you'd likely be rolling for a couple of hundred boxes prior to winning, but if you chose something that is currently a more common win, say, a startship trait, then you'd likely win one within, I don't know, 10 boxes, or so. If I did understand that correctly surely that's a system that would have a very dramatic effect on both the virtual monetary system in game, and affect how much the real money paying players spend. For example, with everyone knowing how expensive Borg Duty Officers are, it would be worth spending the money (or time as a free to play player) to win a handful of Borg Officer Duty packs, and you'd quickly make a ton of virtual money... at least until that market collapsed. Isn't it the low pay-out, or difficult to acquire items that are to the benefit of the developer causing paying players to throw more money at the developer (at the minor inconvenience of them also be resentful and upset with the system!). If my understanding was correct then I agree, I'm in favour of any system that collapses the market and makes everything cheaper.

[@Yandarval]

Not to mention that with the current state of boxes etc. It greatly increases the RSI risks. With potentially thousands of clicks without actually moving the hand or fingers from the same position. The ability to open multiple boxes with on click would be very useful.

[@stankyyboi]

I wonder if that new UI will allow us to go back and pick any previous lockbox that's come out and if that's the case if that means they'll stop adding previous boxes to Infinity which will stop the bloat

[@DougChurch-m8x]

I bought STO when it first released, day 1 many years ago. But I played the episodes and left it. Over the years, I've come back and played a bit, but always left. THIS time, I came back and started playing serious. I never really had a build for ships. But now I have one designated captain that has all the Lobi/lockbox ships that I have (I figured in order to do builds, they should be on one character). So finally, I am starting to get enough that I can make good builds on that captain. BUT... the problem then is, I have a Klingon recruit. I have to do the Endeavors on that account. But the ships are basic beginner type builds. So if I play on my main captain, I'm getting to the point where I can go through patrols relatively quickly. But then I go back to my recruit, and as I progress on my main captain, playing on the Klingon recruit is less and less enjoyable since now what was fun at first just feels so slow. But this captain just won't have access to the same things the main captain has, so it will always feel slow. If you could pay to allow ships to be shared across the account, that would bring in more money. And it would make it so alternate characters are interesting to play. I'm no where near top DPS. Not even close. But still my main has ruined the experience currently with alt captains. What this is going to lead to is I eventually cap out on my experience with my main, but it will be too costly to try to then go with an alt. This limits the time that I will be playing.

[@SRS-GAMES]

Great Vid. However, I think it will be too little too late. People are opening them less now because they are simply too expensive. There is a cost of living crisis and a guaranteed drop after spending $250 is a total joke. I mean that's 5 x AAA games right there. Even if they were account wide as they should be, this is a ludicrous sum of money for the average user. Whatever they do it's too late for STO and in addition we are seeing moves away from lock boxes, they are even banned in some countries I believe. STO needs to do other things to raise money, maybe add content more often and more than a one hour mission every 4-6 months. Finally, who in their right mind is going to invest that kind of cash even if they have it on a game that is in transition with another company? This time next year it's probable Cryptic won't exist or will have no control over STO at all, we have no idea what Decca plans to do, I know they've been hiring, but who knows to what level they are going to take this game. Right now I am not playing more than a couple hours a week and when I am online the fleets are dead, this game is on life support and unless there are monumental changes it's probably going to have a DNR slapped on it.

[@Spamsmoothie1701]

You aren't kidding about the lockbox ships being problematic. I only ever put those single character ships on my main. I do not use them on alts. Alt characters get C-Store ships without exception. In SWTOR, any item would unlock for a single character and you could pay a nominal additional fee and make it account wide. It's a huge missed opportunity for the game to further monetize it. I'd buy account-wide unlocks for my promo ships tomorrow if I could.

[@OEFOIFOUPVet]

I stopped opening lockboxes unless I need the login, btw finally less "ttttt" at the end of nearly every sentence, making it easier to understand and listen to, good content overall 8/10

[@BloodyRabbitProject]

Judging from the picture, there are also typical MUDDs store items in it, like the Maelstrom Torpedo or the Infinity Modulator Rifle. Does that mean MUDD wont get the typical Event items anymore?

[@CasualSAB]

Those icons were just placeholders to show the UI concept.

[@BloodyRabbitProject]

@@CasualSAB Got it, thank you for clarification 🙂

[@NeoThomist-sd1ue]

Well you got me on the hopeium now too looks good but hopefully like neverwinter

[@SolarWraith]

I'd like a better search function in the exchange; more search fields, compare function, etc.. Also, it would be nice to have the ability to mass select items in the inventory; left mouse button drag select with move/protect/salvage/delete function. Something that simple would do wonders for my sanity.

[@CardGameNut]

I get the feeling they decided not to go through with this. If this were a Work-in-Progress for active development, I'd imagine an artist would label their work as such. (If it's labeled as WiP somewhere, please let me know, especially if it's in her pictures and I'm just not reading it.) That she's posting this before any official announcement but not as Work-in-Progress implies to me they've dropped this redesign. Maybe it's still good to go and she got ahead of an announcement, going by an unofficial preview date, and I hope she did, but outside of that I don't have a good feeling about it going live. If it goes live, I'll welcome the changes. The UI seems to deliver a lot more information than we can get to now from in-game means.

[@Skullost]

What I would love to see... is for them to upgrade the old Weapon boxes that when opened gives you a random weapon, be it ground or space. This is make those weapon boxes worthless, sadly.

[@canny7x]

I hate Lockboxes! The odds of getting something useful is too slim. So if DECA want me to ever open another lockbox they have to a) reduce the price of keys, and b) dramatically increase the odds of getting good items.

[@robsolf]

the UI issues are great to bring up because it's a headache with every picklist. It's worse here, but how annoying is it to have to scroll down to pick which reputation you want from TFO's? A sticky based on your first choice in a session would be good, or even a permanent "last selected".

[@tenalpoen]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that cryptic either asked or were contacted by some of their biggest whales about making the same changes to their lockboxes in STO as in Neverwinter, and were told not to do it. When you have people who spend enough money to pay multiple employee's salaries, you listen to them.

[@Killingblaze]

I open lockboxes way left because the choice packs can’t be traded, first I have never enjoyed the AH style speculation so I rarely even post things there, and then there are lockboxes choice packs I would like to give to alts as I am leveling so they can use weapons and such from them through out the leveling process since the items generally come Level appropriate, instead of constantly having to stop and either buy stuff from the exchange, pre crafting a load of things, or spend time upgrading stuff that will not be used after the leveling is done

[@RingoMandingo]

i think your absolutley right, those changes would be stupendous. i blew 30 bucks on keys, got sqaut, couldnt even sell none of the stuff for any money (EC) and am never spending money on the game again >:(

[@Boss-zo4lw]

They really need to sort and combine Lobi, Latinum and Phoenix at the same time, the whole lot needs to be revamped.

[@NeoK182]

I've only paid and opened lockboxes once primarily to get lobi as this was back when to get an event ship you missed if it was still in your event list you had to get the coupons for lobi and I did that when I quit the game for a year or so after Delta Rising. Got a ship around 140 boxes, it was the konnie and partly why I did it because I wanted the ship and needed the lobi so decided to gamble. Anyway, no revamp will get me to buy more lockboxes because I despise the entire gamble mechanics and refuse to actually buy them. Since that one time the only boxes I've opened have been free ones from bundles. But if they did revamp it so the choice packs could go on the exchange I would probably put some money into the game because there are many choice pack items I'd love to have but currently can't for the reasons you mentioned. A way to account unlock ships (and I'd like to add traits/doffs to that too) would probably get me to play my ROM/KDF again as both are basically abandoned and my KDF just used as an alt for events when my main gets too much unrefined dil stocked up. I really play only my one main character because so much of the best gear in the game comes from character only unlocks and I don't feel like spending the money to gear out another toon.

[@aronjohnson2388]

Informative video. For input, 1) I never assume I will ever win a ship; that it a quick way to bankruptcy. 2) I for the most part gave up on infinity boxes because of the filler junk they are filled with. 3) I agree with the idea that whoever wants to take credit for the game should include a mechanic to make single unlock ships account unlocks at will. I have waited for most of the premium ships I have now to enter Mudd packs but It would be nice to spend say $50 to unlock say the Shrike or Texas class instead of having to spend $150 to possibly get extra ships I possibly have no interest in.

[@stonewbie5981]

I don't have a huge budget for lockboxes, so I tend not to open them much. Last night I only spent $15 on the keys. For me, I can buy a ship or risk spending the same money on random lockbox stuff without any ship. So I rather buy a ship. If the odds for winning a lockbox ship were better, maybe I would try more aggressively. But the way it is right now, it's more of a "meh" feature to me -- I try not to get caught up with lockboxes because I know the disappointment level is higher than my chance of winning a ship.

[@SwankyKitteh82]

If you want a specific lockbox ship that isn't one of the DPS meta heavy-hitters, then honestly your best bet is probably Ebay. Not even going to lie. It's not something I'd normally advocate, but if you're talking the potential for spending $216 opening boxes for a ship that would never see the light of day on the ingame Exchange, then paying some scalper $112 on Ebay is probably a better option. That's sad to say, but it's the state of the current game.

[@deavonw]

I used to open $100 of boxes monthly and havent bought any in the last 3 years for the issues you stated. Too much useless junk. This video needs to get to DECA because all these changes would definitely get me back in.

[@S1337theoddoneout-ip9xc]

I don't really open lockboxes any more because after 300 keys i've got nothing worth the dollar per box. The best i've ever got from those 300 keys were some weapons packs and some traits, mind you, about 50 items worth selling from of 300 infinity lockboxes. I did followed all the "lockbox best practices" and open all 300 keys on the same toon and nothing.

[@keibohow69]

There is a way to make a ship available to other characters. once you get a ship, you get a manual with it. and with this manual you are able to craft the ship for another character. If i was running sto you would have to use a lot of material to do it. since the release of the phoenix boxes the crafting system is being wasted. Once crafted it is unable to be sold on the exchange.

[@edapplederry5888]

Would be nice to have an interview with that UI designer. To get information but also give some pointers. Would you try that?

[@hughmanatee4854]

I don't do the promo and lockbox ships specifically because it seems not worth for a single character ship. If there were an option for an account unlock, I'd be far more likely to give them more of my money.

[@TwistedwithPower]

Ez lockbox solution. Introduce a Lockbox tab in store where you can select any previous Lockbox as a choice to claim, not just the current ones. Don't get me started on drop rate lol

[@peterhans3791]

The way the prototype "choose your reward" windows look makes me think of either something similar to the phoenix box (classes of reward and you pick what you want from that class) or each box gives a random number of points which add up so that a ship, or whatever you want, is guaranteed after a certain number of boxes based on minimum points per box like lobi adding up towards a ship given it has a minimum amount per key/promo box. Both options are probably better for players. Anyone else getting these vibes, or am I just crazy?

[@dbeaumontresident847]

I'm looking forward to the current staff that we see on the weekly sto livestreams being gone. This game needs new blood, and devlopers etc that actually care, that actually read our comments, that actually take the TIME to answer the questions. They act so pompous, and that to me is the epitome of ignorance and rudeness. There are many that can do their job, and do it better, period. So buh-bye guys! Spencer, you are the answer, no, the saviour this game, and we, have been waiting for. You changed the market with the farmers by exposing, from what I understand, Cryptics desire to keep them in place to falsely inflate the value of sto to potential buyers. You exposing them forced their hand to do something about it. You alone do this on a daily basis, and for this, you KNOW they totally dislike you. But we love you for exposing truths, and that's the truth. Keep doing what you do. We are always being you mate.

[@keibohow69]

I remember people were complaining about traits not being available account wide,. What did sto do about it they released mudds bundles. how many infinity ships can you get from mudds bundles. How many traits in the infinity lock boxes are worth getting?

[@deubie0211]

I only open them for lobi because of the reasons you have stated, thanks for the vis SAB👍

[@erikhawkke4861]

The old Wiki still ranks higher in seach engines. Is it possible to put in a forwarding link or just take the old one down completely?

[@CasualSAB]

Sadly not possible to take the old one down.

[@Gentrash]

I'm on board about the ship unlock tokens. Maybe I'd care more about the recruit events, but please keep it to $5-$10 per.

[@jeremydale4548]

Here’s one issue I want resolved. Make unlocks account wide. And also make the ships easier to get. Like a 25% chance.

[@callum2277]

At this point I wish thy would just put all the ships in the mudds store after a period of time maybe make them lock box exclusive for the first six months and then put them in the store. I think everything in the lockboxes should be account unlocked at least given the price and odds. Making lockboxes a source of account unlocked ships, traits, doffs and kit modules would be a big improvement and partially justify the immense ec investment required. Another option would be to make everything from the lock boxes available for lobi that way the lobi store would become a sort of pity system.

[@setadoon]

Only if they lowered the outrageous prices in mudds...

[@stitch626aloha]

I'm THE person in the game who has opened over 25000 Inf Boxes and has gotten ONLY ONE T6 ship box. An Acct-wide unlock for the ship would make me shove money down Cryptic's throat by the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars I have gotten ONLY FIVE t5 boxes, the rest has been common loot... Yes, i have opened over fifty weapons choices, but those are not worth remembering

[@nicholashurl3030]

Totally agree that the box ships should be acct unlock. Best I would say would be pay 1k zen or as you said an infinity epic token. Or even finally a use for gpl. GPL is supposed to be the most valuable currency in the universe(according to the Ferengi anyway)

[@crabclaw100]

I will never and have never spent $100 for one ship that I can only use on one character. Let alone even a $30 T6 ship. If it's not account wide. If it's not account wide that's a deal breaker. Been playing since 2013.

[@gallendugall8913]

Agreed, I avoid the lockbox ships because they are character bound. If there was a reasonable way to make them account unlocks I would be interested. The doff thing is also very true. I don't mind the weapons so much simply because I so rarely have to deal with it.

[@stevenwalker4923]

Lockbox ships should be account-bound. That would definitely drop the prices of the ships on the Exchange. You're spending money to get the keys. I agree that the ship choice boxes should be sellable as well. I've probably spent thousands on keys over the years. Trying to avoid that in the future. I have 4 toons I concentrate on. One Tac, One Engi, One Sci, and One carrier toon. Getting all of the OP traits for those builds is expensive.

[@FeeriiEekii]

The only Lockbox I bother with is the one we get for the Yearly Event Campaign. And very very rarely I pick up a few boxes for the Lobi. But they're honestly hardly worth it imho.

[@Jay-ql4gp]

Oh it's been far too long overdue. Yes please! I used to play Neverwinter before they did their money grab when they introduced the bard forcing everyone to spend more money to respec their characters to get them back to where they were. When a new one came out on that game, you were almost guaranteed to get the new mount. It may not be epic or whatever, but you got the mount. STO is like that game run by the DM that's been running it since 1974 who's all hung up on some horribly outdated idea of game balance.

[@tarran6176]

If players stopped opening them, things would change. Why I stopped last year after opening 140 infinity boxes, CRAP for my $$. I will never pay in EC what some items are being listed for, Borg doffs and T6 ship are an example in the Exchange. Even if they do show up an overpriced sale in the C-Store "Mudd's " Now let's add all the great bugs that's not getting address in a reasonable time, new releases that most times do not work right out the box. Then with their updates they break other items like SRO's and Watchers. Do they ever test before its released, I don't think so? I love this game, I just feel they are doing their best to ruin that experience. I will never pay these prices for a 14 your old game which gets more bugs with every update. Money saved in my case. Things will really have to change to get any real money from me again, prices and odds being the top two, with fixes and testing before release being 3 & 4. If they show me the changes in game, I will show them the $$ again.

[@dhotnessmcawesome9747]

Short answer... No lock boxes for this guy but last time I went off at the mouth about STO it got traction sooo.... Let's try again and see what happens. LONG ANSWER: If by less you mean has there been a 100% decrease in frequency of my opening them based on the 100% frequency of them being a complete waste of money for any person with sense... than yes. I don't open than at all. I made a fortune off the World Razer box though. Approximately 25 BILLION total EC from 20 real life human dollars of boxes. Due to literally every tuber's opinion I've otherwise NEVER opened bundled. You said the Razer box was good to open... I opened. I agree. Inifniy is not worth it. When I used to grind keys I'd open them and I've never gotten anything good. 3 times I've gotten tratis otherwise it's just mark bonus and things like that. Dilithium tickets but... I mean cashing them in is BORING beyond belief and only worth it during a dil event and... STILL BORING beyond belief. Straight up, I don't want ANYTHING to do with lock boxes now. I ignore them and I ignore keys and I just don't care. I'll get a ship a year. If they make it WAY cheaper and easier to play lock boxes... I could MAYBE be convinced to gamble but probably not they way they've been doing things. The game is good, the lock box system and monetisation is why I can't get any of my friends to play it with me and I've been trying since I started. Sure, my friends are just the exact demographic they want, stay at home and spend money demo because we're too old or damaged to continue being "out" all the time. If they give me a reason to spend they can take my money. Also... making all things available across all platforms. Like you can't get a lifetime sub if you're on Steam. I need that validated because I was a sucker when I stared and tried to by one. It's because I couldn't and the ONLY way to cash in on rewards is to be Arc/Cryptic/Their launcher or linked and Steam cannot link. That is bullshit. Pure rancid bullshit like the drop rates for any prizes worth anything to anyone.... BUT since you read this whole thing, here's a special treat. I'll give you a chance at me emailing you $1000 dollars! That's right, all you need to do is post a comment telling me the number I'm thinking. Not the closest. Spot on. I'm just not telling you what the window of opportunity is. But I 100% will send a bank transfer to anyone who guesses it. This offer is valid for as long as I'm alive. How fun is that!

[@JDMeac]

What if all your ships were account-wide (with faction/level access and such to be unlocked), but it's inaccessible when your other character is currently manning it as captain?

[@Flight--tz5nf]

I would be more inclined to buy keys if the lock box's are as you said. But that won't happen with Cryptic around. That is for sure. Not with their mind set.

[@Chokah]

The promotional boxes/Lockboxes are something I've never been excited over for the fact that...well I like to do new characters a lot so why in the world would I bust my butt for the cash (or time in the case of Event Campaigns) for a single-character item? Like the new Campaign, we get all three rewards...yay, but I'd honestly give up the coupons and the Lobi crystals if the Promotional Box was an Account unlock.

[@BloodyRabbitProject]

- Mk II vs Mk XII - extra char for opening boxes - Will it be account-bound or character bound or free to sell (which box is it)

[@wilddog1368]

I stopped opening them up due to getting so much junk that is useless.. I would love to see them go through and revamp some of the old stuff to make it useful. Ships like the Tuffly could use a bit of love out of the old boxes. I am sure if they made stuff useful I would open more boxes again.

[@darkghost0523]

Fingers crossed they implement these needed improvements to the lockbox system. Some sort of fee to make ships account unlocked would be great. But this is a business, so they won’t do anything that doesn’t help the bottom line.