Why Lockboxes are not tolerable
 

Ten reasons why they are a scam and PWE are taking you for a ride: http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05...out-lockboxes/

Also I don't really care that someone has thrown money into these things and won a ship. Stop spamming my screen with messages. Thank you.

Also I'd like to draw your attention to http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/173 since you have UK customers. I pose this question to you PWE, do you hold a valid Casino Premises Licence or a valid Betting Premises Licence since reading this in the Gambling Act 2005 implies that you need one or the other to operate virtual gambling schemes?

I await your response...

They get around the law by throwing some paltry stuff in to the Box that you are guaranteed to get so they can get around the gambling laws with a technicality.

Personally, I've never opened a lock box and delete every one I pick up.

Branflakes just told me the notifications can be disabled in the mini-map drop-down. (Thank you for being so quick Bran!) No public answer on licencing though.

Plus, the law specifies gambling as a game which awards money, or "money's worth".

It doesn't pay out in real world money, so, I guess it depends on how much the Crown of the United Kingdom values imaginary spaceships.

Sorry to put it this way , but welcome to a couple months ago, Buddy.

Since this article was posted on massively, Cryptic has done a poll which was accesible to all players of the game via an online link. The poll/survey was all about lockboxes and how to make them more tolerable, etc etc.

AND surprise ... they actually listened. The latest lockboxes , the Tholian ones, are a thousand times better than even the Ferengi ones were , compared to the earliest iterations of the lockboxes , these new ones are downright cool.

We are playing a game that is F2P. Cryptic and PWE need to do something to be making money, and dozens of people can post and screech on the forums about how they have the perfect way to make it happen, but at the end of the day, the lock box promotion is a tried and true source of a whole lot of income for MMOs. They would be morons not to use it.

We should be thankful that the Devs of our preferred game care enough to survey us and try and make them better.

Yes, lock boxes suck, for any of a thousand and three reasons discussed at length elsewhere in the forums. Regardless, the lockboxes are here to stay.
Live with it.

Out of context this could become an amazing line in a Doctor Who episode.

As John said, this conversation was already held 1.5 - 2 months ago.

Lockboxes are tolerable. Also, while you may not like lockboxes, they are not a scam.

You get a known, gauranteed payout with every box you open. Anything beyond that is a bonus. If it isn't worth the cost of a key to you to buy the known quantity in the box and maybe get something else as well, then don't buy the key.

How is exercising your own free will a scam?

If they advertised 200 lobi per lockbox and you only got 2 lobi per box, that would be a scam. See the difference?

There are already countries looking to regulate this kind of stuff. You really want to see this in every other game you play? It's the precedent being set, I'll certainly be keeping an eye on any developments into it's regulation.

I don't agree with the lock box practice at all and never will. If PWE want to take my money they can, but only if I know I am getting something good in return. Give me awesome ships, really good costume pieces, fun extras that make the game enjoyable but don't hide loot behind a guess what you get pay system. Want my 4 quid? I'll take that uniform set or ship. You want 4 quid for a set of keys and probably a bunch of crap items? Forget it.

I'm a returning player and the game has made enough advances to catch my attention again, I even picked up a Ferasan just because they look pretty awesome. I'm willing to pay, not willing to be taken for a ride. If I wanted to gamble I'd walk down the road to Ladbrokes (and even they insist on 18+...).

Either way I'm now paying as little as I can due to this stupid system and putting the boxes on the exchange for some other poor sucker to pick up.

"My mind is made up and now completely closed no matter how reality changes!" is not really a good way to start a conversation. I don't want everything in a lockbox either, but that doesn't mean all lockboxes are automatically ripoffs.

You can get doffs for starbase projects far cheaper by opening boxes than buying DOFF packs, there are good middle tier rewards like the mirror ships, very rare items drop very extremely often (you can get decent phased tetryon pistols off the exchange for pocket lint). Fleet credit boost drops helped pay for my shiny new ultra-rare gear, of which I already have 3 pieces.

None of those things is a bad payoff for a couple days' dilithium grind.

This is a huge change from the packs of consumables and commodities with a single lobi that made everyone so mad at the previous lockboxes. It's still not perfect, but a massive improvement.

Thank you for the count to ten article!

I will translate it and put it in to our Fleet website.

Thanks!