Devs cannot be trusted. Wish Machine Trap.

[cool skill]

I don't care about communist ToS. There are devs who are genuine and ones who simply do things that set of scam alarms. Loot boxes are already a shady practice that are even banned in certain countries.

But regardless if you agree or not about these devs, I would like to warn everybody about this Wish Machine. Because a multitude of users have lost tons of Starchrom without permission or realizing they were losing Starchrom.

The shop section is fine. Clear list of items with clear prices for them. You click what you want, and it will show up for you to decide to purchase.

The game section is a whole different story. Apparently the tutorial is supposed to show up for low level. But for many, including myself, it did not show up until much much later towards the end of the second section. Long after you can just build a Wish Machine in your base with no clue how it works.

It is perfectly fine to agree to pay to gamble, and lose your shirt. However, this Wish Machine is designed for users to pay without realizing they're paying. Trolls will say otherwise, but the evidence is clear.

The first time I used the Wish Machine, I checked everywhere. I mean everywhere to find out what the fee was. Nothing. No fee mentioned anywhere. There is a 'Play' button that will start the game with no fee indicated. But there's no way in hell the game will just start if I click 'Play' unless something comes up showing any fees and options to proceed or exit right? Wrong.

The game just starts. OK there's a riddle quest in the game to shoot road signs. You click, it starts, and you shoot as many road signs as you can. Because you do not want to miss any.

So here in the Wish Machine, you click 'Play', and what happens? Gophers show up going up and down. And you are so caught off guard expecting some directions or some explanation on how to play, with information on fees. Bu there's no information. And you cannot even tell if the game just suddenly started. So each gopher you're not hitting may be like missing road signs that you're supposed to hit.

As gophers are going up and down, user trying to figure out wtf is going on, there is an extremely vague note at the bottom that says "Smash it and spend 500 XStarchrom to receive the reward."

WTF does that even mean? Whatever it means, the closest interpretation would be that you can choose to spend 500 Starchrom later. Perhaps after smashing as many as you can? But nobody can tell or has time to figure it out wtf "all your base are belong to us" means. When the game looks like it has started and you have to now try to hit as many gophers as you can as fast as you can.

No indication of fee has shown up. Or any sort of agreement to pay a fee. Just to be clear, the initial presumption is that directions/fee will be shown prior to clicking 'Play'. Nothing. Maybe something will come up after clicking 'Play'. Nothing, game just starts. OK so now what? Maybe a fee I can choose to pay will show up after the game is over. But who has time to figure it out? When gophers are going up and down. And most likely you have already missed out on hitting some. So you have to compensate by hitting as many as you can as fast as you can. Then maybe afterward it will have info on a fee.

Except as your hitting the gophers, Starchrom is getting drained from you. Your Starchrom is showing on the top right with small indication every time it is reducing. But you cannot see that if you are completely focused on making sure to hit the next gopher on time. Not realizing you're losing Starchrom with every single hit.

Anybody who thinks this is not intentionally designed in a way so misleading that exactly this will happen to a considerable amount of users = extremely naive. They could have put the fees and directions at the beginning before you even click 'Play'. They could have had something come up when clicking 'Play'. So you are clear on how to play and decide to proceed or exit before a single gopher shows up. No. As soon as you click play, the game immediately starts with gophers going up and down.

Many users have already complained about losing thousands of Starchrom. Not because they knew they were paying to gamble. But because they did not know it was being drained while they were playing the game. That gave no indication of fees.

And some users have even given evidence that this was not even the original design. Originally, there were two buttons. 500 and 5000. So you choose which you want. And an additional screen comes up so you can decide if you want to proceed with paying it or cancel. So wtf happened to that?

Why is this designed with no information whatsoever anywhere that beginners can see clearly before clicking 'play'? And clicking 'play' the game just starts with no confirmation to proceed with information on fees. And an absurd note at the bottom intentionally written with dementia? It is very clear and obvious that the devs want users to play this game without realizing they're losing Starchrom for every hit.

[Pizzashot]

The wish machine is very unclear. Why would you start a whack game an only whack once? You normally pay once and whack till it is done.. I wasted 7000 because of this bull but I got the Surge shotgun which now is my main because it is a BEAST!

[Rezzier]

Originally posted by workerdrone:

Originally posted by cool skill:

The first time I used the Wish Machine, I checked everywhere. I mean everywhere to find out what the fee was. Nothing. No fee mentioned anywhere. There is a 'Play' button that will start the game with no fee indicated. But there's no way in hell the game will just start if I click 'Play' unless something comes up showing any fees and options to proceed or exit right? Wrong.

wait, you checked everywhere, really everywhere, and nowhere does it say anything, anything at all, about paying starchrom to play?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3296613045

at that point you are already playing the game and unaware it costs 500 per click, you are focused on hitting the lammas. but yes it does say AFTER the game starts.

[Rezzier]

Originally posted by Glitchy Girl:

As indicated here - it is listed on the front page when you first start one up.

That said I'll go ahead and pass along the feedback, to make it more clear for folks!

Furthermore .... like I've said elsewhere. Let's avoiding bashing one another if we can! It kind of dilutes the point of the thread and just makes people angry at each other for no good reason. :/

Its listed? oh yeah? tell me were:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556645755/
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556646218/

[EvilHare]

Originally posted by Rezzier:

Originally posted by Glitchy Girl:

As indicated here - it is listed on the front page when you first start one up.

That said I'll go ahead and pass along the feedback, to make it more clear for folks!

Furthermore .... like I've said elsewhere. Let's avoiding bashing one another if we can! It kind of dilutes the point of the thread and just makes people angry at each other for no good reason. :/

Its listed? oh yeah? tell me were:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556645755/
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556646218/

It is stated in her post. I see people are blind when they are focusing on hate.

"when you first start one up" ... meaning the mini game. Not the arcade.

Careful how you speak to certain people

[Zouls]

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[EvilHare]

Originally posted by Zouls:

A fool and his money are soon parted.

This

[Groovy]

it's gambling FREE currency, come off it.... Besides, save 8k for the gun you want

[william_es]

First time I did the random side of the wish machine, it used up 4800 starchrome.

But I also unlocked the HAMR crumble, which was a MUCH better sniper rifle then what I was using. My god a semi-auto sniper rifle with an 8 shot magazine! No more bolt action reloading!! And it set things on fire. Was great for boss battles. This was my main weapon for a LONG time afterwards.

I also got a huge chunk of fragments for all kinds of weapons and armor. Led to me unlocked even more stuff later on.

I agree it needs to be more clearly labelled with probably a menu to choose the level you want. But it definitely gives you better rewards the longer the session goes on. When it tried it again later on with much smaller amounts, it gave back pretty trivial returns. So when the machine sucks down all the starchrom you have on you, it's actually doing you a favor. Really it is.

And also, gambling is gambling. If you don't like what you get when you gamble don't gamble.

[Dark Savior]

I agree that there are issues.
The wording is kind of confusing and I being level 50 haven't seen the tutorial yet.
Note: I am very behind in the story.
I was lucky to not accidentally play the game because a teammate warned me about this.

[Entoarox]

Given that starchrom is a free resource you can get essentially an infinite amount of, what is the issue?
If this involved a more restrictive resource or the actual cash currency I'd have a bigger issue with it, but as-is, it is a mistake you make at most once.
Besides, you're still getting something for those 500 starchrom, blueprint fragments are granted for every 500 starchrom, it is only random which ones - and even after you get a blueprint, fragments are still useful to enhance blueprints.

[Rezzier]

Originally posted by EvilHare:

Originally posted by Rezzier:

Its listed? oh yeah? tell me were:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556645755/
https://steamcommunity.com/id/rezzier/screenshot/2504648580556646218/

It is stated in her post. I see people are blind when they are focusing on hate.

"when you first start one up" ... meaning the mini game. Not the arcade.

Careful how you speak to certain people

carefull, is that a threat to silence me? rofl - like i showed in both prints , before any game starts there are no warning to the cost, ONLY AFTER THE GAME STARTS.
And when a game starts people are focused on the game. you allways need to know costs before playing, paying, etc, thats how a transaction works, if it isnt like that its a "scam" , in real life is, you seen many turistic places with people doing that. in this game you are not "losing" anything of value, but its still not how it should be.
And dont go on about people focusing on "hate" when you threathen people.
i am pointing out that answer is dismissive of the issue, saying it says somewere , and becouse it says somewere its fine. like a fine print contract, with small barelly legible letters, its ok, its there, your fault.

[Zouls]

Originally posted by Rezzier:

Originally posted by EvilHare:

It is stated in her post. I see people are blind when they are focusing on hate.

"when you first start one up" ... meaning the mini game. Not the arcade.

Careful how you speak to certain people

carefull, is that a threat to silence me? rofl - like i showed in both prints , before any game starts there are no warning to the cost, ONLY AFTER THE GAME STARTS.
And when a game starts people are focused on the game. you allways need to know costs before playing, paying, etc, thats how a transaction works, if it isnt like that its a "scam" , in real life is, you seen many turistic places with people doing that. in this game you are not "losing" anything of value, but its still not how it should be.
And dont go on about people focusing on "hate" when you threathen people.
i am pointing out that answer is dismissive of the issue, saying it says somewere , and becouse it says somewere its fine. like a fine print contract, with small barelly legible letters, its ok, its there, your fault.

But upon opening there isnt a cost at all. Also the game doesnt start when you pick one, you can back out as soon as you enter one, you have to click to start the game, and it explains what the cost is, you can also back out.

You cant both say you got scammed and told that its 500 points per "entire minigame" on the outer menu, and then send a menu of the outer menu that doesnt mention price at all.

Just accept you didnt understand it, and refused to even try to understand it, and got what you got.

[DarkEternal]

Originally posted by EvilHare:

Originally posted by Zouls:

A fool and his money are soon parted.

This

Except the Wish Machine costs zero money and only costs Starchrom. Which is free. You literally cannot purchase it with real money.

[Rezzier]

Originally posted by Zouls:

Originally posted by Rezzier:

carefull, is that a threat to silence me? rofl - like i showed in both prints , before any game starts there are no warning to the cost, ONLY AFTER THE GAME STARTS.
And when a game starts people are focused on the game. you allways need to know costs before playing, paying, etc, thats how a transaction works, if it isnt like that its a "scam" , in real life is, you seen many turistic places with people doing that. in this game you are not "losing" anything of value, but its still not how it should be.
And dont go on about people focusing on "hate" when you threathen people.
i am pointing out that answer is dismissive of the issue, saying it says somewere , and becouse it says somewere its fine. like a fine print contract, with small barelly legible letters, its ok, its there, your fault.

But upon opening there isnt a cost at all. Also the game doesnt start when you pick one, you can back out as soon as you enter one, you have to click to start the game, and it explains what the cost is, you can also back out.

You cant both say you got scammed and told that its 500 points per "entire minigame" on the outer menu, and then send a menu of the outer menu that doesnt mention price at all.

Just accept you didnt understand it, and refused to even try to understand it, and got what you got.

some times it shows something to some players, and sometimes it shows nothing to others.
what i recall was it said 500 to play, or something similar, never explained it was 500 per click . ofc, after i spent all on the first attempt i saw it wasnt 500 per game.

And yes i did try to understand it before i played, but it wasnt clear, thus only understood after i played, thats why its not properly explained. maybe try to understand what point we are making? there's no cost displayed before you press play, therefore it has no cost then, did you understood this way? or imagine, you enter somewere with no signs at all, then someone tells you that you have to pay for being there and force you to pay.
Or Just admit that you are defending the game with no proper arguments, just for the sake of being a troll.

[PixieShadow]

lol seriously trap like you can do cargo events and side missions to get starchron or just buy it from the side mission vendor or nisa and if you have core just refine them in then resonator filtor its so easy