[PODCAST] Priority One Podcast 273 | Core Blimey!

winters83

Greetings, Admirals! You’re listening to EPISODE 273 OF PRIORITY ONE PODCAST, your weekly report on all things Star Trek! Available for download or streaming on Monday, June 6th, 2016 at PriorityOnePodcast.com!

This week we’re Trekking Out what’s wrong with the new Star Trek Beyond posters, and we’re also looking at the newest addition to the new TV series writing team. In Star Trek Online, Kenna’s looking at the dynamics of minority playerbases in STO, and Mark takes us through the latest mission that’s been announced for Agents of Yesterday. Later, Jayce is back with another Trek Lit 101.

As usual, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages.

TOPICS DISCUSSED
Trek It Out

• Star Trek Beyond character posters (all 9, with incorrect Uhura/Sulu images)
• Corrected Sulu/Uhura posters
• Voyager author Kirsten Beyer joins Star Trek writing team

Star Trek Online News

• Massively Overthinking: The Minority Playerbases Inside MMORPGs
• New STO story mission: The Core of the Matter
• Star Trek Online Release Notes: June 2nd, 2016

Tracking the Devs

• Thomas Marrone (@Cryptic_TtC) has been working on the blogs
• Jeremy Randall (@BorticusCryptic) gets called some interesting names

This week’s Community Questions:

Is there a risk that being too pure to the “prime” universe — or the TV Trek we know and love — could damage the series’s success on mass-market television?
Do you think that Star Trek Online is a collection of minority playerbases? And what do you think Cryptic could do to foster more diversity in game?



Let us know YOUR thoughts on this week’s episode by commenting below!

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tylermaxwell

Is there a risk that being too pure to the “prime” universe — or the TV Trek we know and love — could damage the series’s success on mass-market television?
While having a few 'Prime Canon' knowledged writers does not in of itself indicate a problem, I do think that there is a risk in trying too hard appease the Prime Trek fanbase at the expense of any potential wider mass-market appeal. On the one hand I get it, we long time Trekkies all want the new show to "feel like Star Trek " of old in some way (whatever the hell that means to each of us). But it can't do it by trying to copy or closely emulate what was done in the past, it can't just be the same old Trek moral dramas and the like anymore; sticking with a stale storytelling formula is part of what doomed Enterprise.

Honestly I think there's a good chunk of Trekkies following the developments of the new show that only want their specific flavor of Trek again ad infinitum: TOS forever (ala Star Trek: Continues) or TNG forever or Full House but with ALL KLINGONS forever, regardless of the needs of the Trek franchise to evolve and grow to garner new fans into their base. For many of these people, anything short of that intransigent nostalgia will be a failure in their eyes. At the end of the day, no matter what happens with the show, someone is gonna get pissed off that it's not the kind of Trek that they love, and on some level I think the showrunners need to be OK with that. Someone is gonna be left behind, but that always happens when franchises change to meet the times.

Overall, I think that it's important to have people on the show who have a good grasp of what Trek is and has done in the past and imbue that in the new series, but are also willing to break from that old cookie-cutter Trek form and take it somewhere truly different, even if it means gaining the ire of some of the more obstinate members of the fanbase.

Do you think that Star Trek Online is a collection of minority playerbases? And what do you think Cryptic could do to foster more diversity in game?
If I remember correctly, one of the key counterpoints brought up in that article is that most people aren't just single-issue players, and probably align with (or at least open to) multiple playtypes and niches. Sure, some people may only do or identify with one playstyle or the smaller pop. faction, but among the wider population they aren't just PvP-only players or Elite mode PvE players or Roleplayers or Crafters; they're PvE players that might want to PvP with their guildmates on weekends, Craft when they want that new gear set they saw someone wear, and Roleplay with their friends on occasion. So while a game might be composed of minority playerbases, each player may be a part of several minorities. Because of that, I think it's perfectly reasonable for a game like STO to have events that aim to pull players to a few different niches, for instance following up a heavy space PvE quartz grinding event with a light ground social party event on a paradise planet centered around hoverboards and digital line dancing. Showcasing different events for different playstyles provides opportunities for a more well-rounded player to find something new that they'll like and explore more at their own volition.

What more can Cryptic do to promote diverse gameplay...I'm not sure. The obvious problem in an MMO with multiple playstyle groups is that the devs usually end up creating new content for one or a few at a time, with the other ones left in the lurch for maybe years without any additions. I'd definitely like Cryptic to spend more time developing the more niche, dare I say abandoned () parts of Star Trek Online like PvP or the Foundry; I get that the real-life limitations on time and dev resources often prevents that, and we're stuck in a chicken-or-the-egg situation in regards to their development (i.e., not enough people engage in PvP/Foundry/etc. because Cryptic hasn't developed enough for it, but Cryptic won't develop more for it because not enough people play it now, so it isn't worth the cost in money and man hours). But it'd be nice all the same to see some small incremental additions to these long-loved (at least by their diehard minority) features so they're not seen as totally dead, or even just shine the spotlight on a community initiative around that kind of content (PvP tournaments, Foundry mission contests). A good place to start is probably just to make each type of gameplay 'seem' rewarding for the time and effort spent, so that players don't end up in a place where maybe they 'want' to try playing PvP with some friends, but they 'have' to be playing some such space PvE raid on permanent repeat (say, Infected Space Advanced or Crystalline Catastrophe) 'cuz apparently everyone says that's the only place to get the 'good' rewards.

On a related aside...Mine Trap Ground PvE Event! Unleash the zombies sorry, Salt Vampire hordes! DO IT CRYPTIC!!!!

BONUS: TOS/Not TOS faction-Exclusive Missions in AoY?
As far as how the Galorndon Core mission (and likely the rest of the missions coming from Agents of Yesterday) fits in with the other story missions in the game, since it's 'technically' not a TOS faction-only mission (like all the Legacy of Romulus content was), nor is it endgame mission content (like Delta Rising stuff), I'd argue that it's kinda like the Nimbus III "Wasteland" mission arc from Legacy of Romulus: Wasteland was mid-level game content that was originally really sorta written to progress the Romulan player faction storyline, but released for all players to play, because why not I guess? In the same way, I'd argue that "The Core of the Matter" was written as the mid-game continuation of the TOS-faction storyline, but was adapted in such a way (alternate dialogue paths, etc.) to be accessible to other faction players, 'cuz otherwise those "never making a Romulan/TOS Federation/Tribble Secret Cabal character" peeps would scream their heads off that the new expansion didn't add something just for them, and that they were being completely "ignored and disenfranchised" (hey, there's another 'minority playerbase'! ).

sisteric

Is there a risk that being too pure to the “prime” universe — or the TV Trek we know and love — could damage the series' success on mass-market television?

No. TOS is what the franchise was built on. And those fans that joined after the 2009 film would have by now looked up Star Trek previous shows and watched them. And if they still a fan after watching all of that, they will probably be fans for life, no matter the version or iteration that is finally produced.

Do you think that Star Trek Online is a collection of minority playerbases? And what do you think Cryptic could do to foster more diversity in game?

Technically all games are just collections of people grouped in some grouping of play styles. Those games that support the greatest number of playstyles tend to be ones that last the longest.
As for what Cryptic could so about this....rewards. And I don't mean just gears. If Solo, Group, and PVP had a unified way system of rewards for Rep Marks, Dilithium, Crafting Materials, energy credits and fleet credits based not only on difficulty, but also time spent, content consumed and other such factors, you will get a greater number of people working towards getting the gear those rewards can get them. Everyone in the end will get the same stuff, from the stuff they want to do. And no one will feel that they have to do everything or feel forced to have to do specific content to get the gear.