[PODCAST] Tribbles in Ecstasy Take 256: 'A J-normous Show'

midniteshadow7

Tribbles in Ecstasy Take 256: 'A J-normous Show' has warped on to Holosuite Media, you can download and stream it from:

http://holosuitemedia.com/tie256/

We return for another round of discussions on this week's Star Trek news where in this week's episode we talk about Star Trek Online PC news, Star Trek Online Console news (1:02:43), Star Trek Timelines (1:17:25), The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard (1:45:41), Star Trek: Discovery (2:02:21), Conventions (2:10:23), Unofficial Productions (2:15:41), Community Feedback (3:04:42) and more!

Community Questions:
1. What do you think about the new ships in the Star Trek Online R&D Packs?
2. Do you like the recent Star Trek Timelines changes to the Gauntlet?
3. What do you think about the two newest editions to the Star Trek: Discovery cast?

alex1ger

Good morning, tribbles.

Before I get started: No, you did not get an e-mail. And I intend to be rather brief this week. You sounded like you needed some rest. And since we got some more information about the space balancing changes, I'll probably scrap what I had and start anew. I'm not sure, yet.


Community questions:


1.) I'm really not sure why sun was so hung up on the Bortasqu'. That ship is pretty much a bulkier, sturdier Negh'var. And claiming that the nacelles look like fed nacelles... The Vor'cha and the D7/K'tinga have similarly thin-looking nacelles.
It is very much a klingon ship and to me it looks like a cross between the D7/K'tinga/Vor'cha line of vessels and the Negh'var/Bortasqu line of vessels. Well, let me rephrase that, Klingon battlecruisers have gotten bulkier and sturdier over time. This temporal ship is a bit of a throwback to the sleeker designs.
Now if your complaint was along the lines of "all klingon ships look too much alike", we might have a discussion going. But that's not what you said.

By the way, I did watch the recording of the dev livestream. And apparently some people complain that romulan ships look too much alike. Well, we have only ever seen the bird motif. A somewhat aggressive bird motif to be precise. Birds of prey like eagles, hawks, owls... I wonder if a romulan dove-/pigeon-inspired ship would work at all. Or a romulan peacock? O_o
But let's face it, there are only so many ways to design a ship that resembles some sort of bird of prey. And if it doesn't look like some bird-ish thing, people will complain that it doesn't look like a romulan ship. *shrug*

Later on, some people in chat asked for playable borg ships. Some of them may honestly want to fly around in a cube. Others were probably just trolling. At this point in time, I don't care anymore. Let's have borg ships. Let's have the kit-bash abominations. Let's have a T6 Apollo 11. But don't expect me to recommend this game to anyone ever again. Because I won't.
I wish there was another Star Trek MMO out there. I wouldn't be stuck here, then. *shrug*


2.) *sound of crickets in the distance, some tumbleweed rolls across the screen*


3.) I don't know the woman, but I've seen the guy before. I can't quite put my finger on it... *googles him furiously* Oh... Lucius Malfoy. I watched the Harry Potter movies. Once. Because a friend insisted on it. They weren't bad. And there were some amazing actors involved.
I have no clue who the woman is. Good luck to her. I guess.

See, I don't doubt that the actors are gonna do a fine job. I mean, there are some very talented people among the cast.
I don't doubt Nicholas Meyer. And because MidNite vouched for him as a producer... fine, Alex Kurtzman gets a pass. As a producer. Just keep him away from the scripts, because I don't think he's a good writer.
But I very much doubt CBS. Or rather this whole All Access thing that DEPENDS on Discovery. Let's hope I'm being pessimistic here rather than realistic.



Feedback:


Space balance changes:
I'm really not sure how to tackle this without writing an entire book about game design. Okay, not an entire book, but definitely a few pages. There are some fundamental issues with STO's game design and this balance pass won't solve them. It might remedy a few of them, but that's a story for a different day.



Console issues:
So after... 4 weeks? 5 weeks? the temporal transponder finally works. The people who kept playing can finally claim that outdated (and therefore useless) level-up gear and the ones who waited for this issue to be resolved can start playing again to acquire the level-appropriate stuff.

And the turnrate bug is fixed. Took them long enough. See, timber called this a "quality of life" issue. And that is correct. But in this case it is crucial to the game. Why? Well, let's say there is a reason why a ship like the scimitar got a turnrate of 7, even though it's sheer size would suggest a turnrate of... let's say 4? That would seem more reasonable.
But that wouldn't be *badum-tish* FUN!
Space combat tends to be the one feature that is mentioned as being the most "fun" part of STO. When you make the arguably best part of your game severely less fun... uhm... not a smart move. Let's face it, this bug needed to be fixed within a few day. Even if we take into account that Cryptic does not have the budget or the manpower or whatever, I'd give them a week. Two if I was feeling EXTREMELY generous.

Oh well, let's just hope there are no more issues for a few months. What? What are you talking about? The in-game calendar for consoles stated that the anniversary event would end today, but it ended yesterday? And Kael just pointed at the blog that stated the correct time and apologized for any confusion?
Dear tribbles, I require your assistance. I need all of you to perform a double facepalm, because I have neither enough faces nor enough palms to express what I'm thinking.